Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times

Mayor David Bowers (right) invited everyone who came to the open house on his first day in office to sit in his seat. Bill Craft of Roanoke takes his turn in the chair.

The Roanoke Times | File 1992

The "catbird seat" sign as seen in Bowers' law office in February 1992.

Mayor David Bowers meets with visitors Tuesday on his first day in office. He said he wants to increase the public's voice in government.

On the first day of his third term as mayor of Roanoke, David Bowers looked like a kid at Christmas.

He couldn't hide his glee as his office buzzed with journalists and well-wishers stopping by to visit during three "open-house" sessions in the mayor's office on Tuesday. He invited each visitor to get a picture taken in the mayor's chair, which sits behind a desk bearing a nameplate that reads "David A. Bowers, Mayor," and below that, "This Chair belongs to the People."

The plate replaces the one that adorned Bowers' desk during his first two terms from 1992 to 2000 that read "In the Catbird Seat." While Bowers said that he always kept a note in his desk as a reminder that the mayor serves the city's people, the new plate marks a more explicit acknowledgement of that fact.

"I know the press is here and they're going to think that I'm just saying this, but I'm a firm believer that this office belongs to the public," Bowers said to a crowd that included reporters from two newspapers and three television stations.

To that end, he's already sent a seven-page memo to the other six members of the Roanoke City Council, recommending a number of procedural changes. He wants to give all speakers five minutes rather than three to address the council; previously they were allowed five minutes only if there were fewer than five speakers.

Bowers also recommended that citizens could address the council without registering first. He also wants to get rid of the lectern that's placed in front of the council dais for use by speakers.

"I understand there are some speakers at the podium who will seek to 'rally' the audience. So what! That's what democracy is all about," Bowers wrote in the memo. "If people want to 'play to the camera,' then the public will sense that; my main objection is that I just don't think there should be anything standing between the people in attendance and their view of all of the council."

Bowers requested his recommendations be presented to the council at its meeting at 2 p.m. Monday, where they will be subject to a vote.

The memo marks the first step to following through on his campaign promise to make city hall more accessible to the public. During the campaign, he also said he wants to hire more teachers and raise their salaries, as well as the salaries of police officers, firefighters and sheriff's deputies.

Bowers' success in fulfilling those and other campaign pledges will hinge on finding three council members to back him on key votes because the council appears to be somewhat splintered along historical but rapidly shifting factional lines.

But on Monday, Bowers didn't appear worried about executing his agenda as he welcomed a steady stream of city employees, supporters and folks who just wanted to spend time with the new mayor.

One visitor asked about the opening date of the nearly finished, $66 million Taubman Museum of Art; Bowers responded that it would open in November but said he won't be there because he'll instead be attending a law school class reunion.

Bowers also talked about his single addition to the office walls -- a portrait of George Washington -- and about the way the office was arranged when he inherited it in 1992 from Noel Taylor.

"When I became mayor, the desk was here," he said as he gestured to a pair of employees from the second floor. "Two or three months later, I said I'd like to re-arrange it. So we moved the desk up here, which is where it's stayed and it's worked out better for me."

Several times Bowers repeated the story of the late Ruby the tiger, of Mill Mountain Zoo, who while Taylor was mayor jumped on and "spotted" a couch in the office.

Brian Granzo of Midland, Mich., stopped by with his three sons and his father-in-law, Bruce Robinson. Bowers asked Granzo's youngest son, 4-year-old Brenden, "What would you do as mayor?"

Brenden shrugged, so Bowers prompted the boy: "Lower taxes, increase services."

Bowers' quip may have been tongue-in-cheek, but the question is something that he, after eight years away, again gets to answer for real.