"It’s just really neat," he said about his new role. "It’s exciting. For someone like myself that spent so many years with the city, to have the opportunity to serve as mayor, what better is there?"

Geagan said he will be keeping his eye on state finances and the effect they might have on the city.

"I think we have to be real cautious of what’s going to happen as far as the state budget shortfalls that they’re talking about, the county shortfalls," he said. "I think we’re in pretty good shape here, but at the same time we have to be very, very cautious about what we’re spending. We just don’t know what’s out there right now."

His other priority, he said, is to bring the new council together.

"We need to kind of figure out where we’re all at and what are the issues that are important to us," he said. "And I know we all have something different."

He also said he would like to bring some of Eagan’s large corporations together and meet with them a few times a year as a "mayor’s task force."

"Business is so important to this community and we have a great tax base, and we’d like to listen to those folks so we all try to get on the same page," he said.

Geagan said he knows everybody on the new council and thinks it’s a good group of people.

"I think we have the basis for a good council," he said. "I want to be inclusive, not exclusive. And I don’t see why that can’t happen. I think you can disagree and get things done and you don’t have to be angry at one another while you’re doing it."

He said he’s really looking forward to working again with Eagan city staff, which he considers one of the best.

"It’s just nice to be back. I missed it," he said. "I didn’t realize how much, really, until driving up here (to City Hall) this morning."