LEWISTON – New Mayor Larry Gilbert said he’s making good on his vow to meet with city councilors and staff.

Gilbert said he met with Mark Paradis and Ron Jean earlier this week, has scheduled an appointment with Stavros Mendros today and City Administrator Jim Bennett Thursday.

He led his first City Council meeting as mayor Tuesday.

“I’ll have to get used to the procedural stuff, but I’m sure it’ll be second nature before too long,” Gilbert said.

Gilbert easily won the seat last week, claiming 63 percent of the vote. Councilor Normand Rousseau had the second-highest vote total with 29 percent.

The mayor’s post has been vacant since late November, when Lionel Guay stepped down.

Gilbert was the first to throw his hat in the ring and frequently criticized councilors during his campaign. He challenged council efforts to appoint committees to focus on joint services with Auburn and with downtown redevelopment and accused them of overstepping their bounds.

But Gilbert said it’s time to let that go.

“You have the election process, and things get said, and they get to the point where they boil up,” he said. “Then, the people get their say. And they have. They’ve chosen, and now it’s time to move on.”

He got a vote of confidence from Ward 4’s Jean.

“With the work you’ve done and the votes you received from all segments of the population, I think we have a real mandate to make some changes now,” Jean said.

All seats, including Gilbert’s, go up for election again in November.