Birmingham Mayor-elect Randall Woodfin said it's "premature" to discuss any possible personnel changes at city hall.

"At this point, as it relates to personnel it is important for me to start talking to everybody and getting a feel for what is going on in each department," he said in an interview with AL.com.

Woodfin said he will do an assessment to determine what departments are understaffed, overstaffed or too top-heavy. He spoke previously about reducing the number of employees in the mayor's office.

When Woodfin will actually take office, appears to be in dispute.

Woodfin said he will take office Oct. 24, the same day as the council members are sworn in. "Everybody knows that," he said. "There is no mix-up here."

The Birmingham Legal Department, however, contends that the new mayor will take office on Nov. 28, the fourth Tuesday in November, per the Mayor-Council Act.

Assistant City Attorney Tracy Roberts later said that the Attorney General's Office reached out to the city and concurred Woodfin should assume office on Nov. 28.

Setting priorities

Once he does take office, Woodfin said he won't make swift and sudden changes. He will take time to assess and receive feedback from the public.

"You don't come in with a sledgehammer to issues that you, first, need to actually take a deep dive and look at, to not only assess and understand, he said.

Woodfin said one of his first orders of business will be having an external audit conducted to determine the state of Birmingham's finances.

Is there really a $67 million increase in revenues, and what happened to the bond money approved by voters five years ago?

"We have to take a deep dive into our finances to make sure real fiscal accountability exists, transparency exists in how we are spending tax dollars," Woodfin said. "We have to set priorities in how we spend that money. We also have to make sure there has been no negligence, misuse or abuse of how tax dollars are being spent and no possible fraud whether it is contractual or in departments. So it is important to take that assessment."

If Birmingham has an increase in revenues, he questioned why the city looks the same or worse than it has in years.

The campaign platform that appeared to resonate with most voters was Woodfin's commitment to reinvest in all of the city's 99 neighborhoods.

Where will he start?

"If you ask me what the priority is ... it's all of the areas that have had the least attention. That's a lot to do," he said.

That doesn't mean he will forget about downtown, Woodfin said.

"If the city is going to grow, they need the mayor to work with the council," he said. Woodfin said he will move "beyond petty politics" that stymied progress in the city. "A new mayor spells more growth," he said.

"We don't have a 'we don't have enough money' problem. We have a 'how our money is being spent' problem," Woodfin said. "The question becomes what commitment are we willing to make? Priorities. It is not a downtown vs. the other 98 neighborhoods. I have never said that. Anybody that thinks investing in the other 98 neighborhoods means progress stops downtown probably don't live in the city limits of Birmingham. It is almost offensive for people to think that it has to be one or the other. It is called being and having an attentive and responsive government to the entire city."

Woodfin said there has to be investment in the entire city's infrastructure. "It's about getting back to basics," he said.

Budget

It's four months into the 2018 fiscal year and no budget has been adopted. Council President Johnathan Austin, who lost his bid for re-election, has said the council was waiting for Mayor William Bell to sign off.

Woodfin said it is important for him to talk to Bell and council members about the budget. He said it is important to keep a close eye on what contracts are going out in the next 21 days.

"I think it is important that things aren't done to hook people up," he said. "I think it is important that we keep a good eye on how our tax dollars are being spent or what contracts and services are being rendered over the next 21 days."