When Mayor Charlie Luken tapped Tim Riordan to run City Hall while he looks for a new city manager, Mr. Riordan had two demands.

        “I have to be able to make decisions, and we need to have good communication,” Mr. Riordan said.

        Mr. Luken agreed.

        “This is not the time for caretaker government,” the mayor said when he announced the 55-year-old finance director as his choice for acting city manager.

        No one knows that better than Mr. Riordan, who spent most of his 30-year career at Dayton City Hall and was acting city manager there for 10 months in 1994.

        On his last day in the Dayton manager's office, a steady stream of department heads came into his office.

        “Can you sign off on this for me?” they would ask. “I don't want to have to explain it to the new guy.”

        After finishing his first week in the big office at Cincinnati City Hall without making headlines, Mr. Riordan said he'll have his work cut out for him in the days, weeks or months ahead.

        “We've got the aftermath of September 11, the April riots, the Justice Depart ment investigation and the city budget is going downhill,” he said. “Other than that, there's nothing to be nervous about.”

        Mr. Riordan (pronounced REAR-don) came to Cincinnati in 1998 as finance director and — though he's considered one of the smartest guys at City Hall — his career has been decidedly low-key.

        Although he's on everyone's short list for the permanent job, Mr. Riordan insists it's not for him. “I'm not a candidate for the job. I'm not applying for the job. I'm not interested in the job. No.”

        But then, in talking about his future plans, Mr. Riordan opened the door to the ever-so-slight possibility that he could change his mind.

        “I don't think I've ever gotten a job in my life that I applied for. People come to me with this job or that job. So we'll see what happens.”

        An empty nester, the self-proclaimed free-throw champion of City Hall lives a block away from the office. “On a bad day, if I don't get the walk light, it takes me a minute and 40 seconds to get to work.”

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