Mayor-elect Jim Suttle released a list Tuesday of priorities his administration will deal with during its first two weeks in office. First though, he had to take a step back and re-examine how he dealt with the first crisis of his administration.

Suttle admitted he made a mistake when he didn’t take questions from reporters during Monday’s news conference to announce that Matthew Samp would not be his co-chief of staff.

The announcement came after allegations first reported by the Omaha World-Herald on Sunday that Samp had sex with a 14-year-old boy 13 years ago when Samp was 23. The boy killed himself when he was 19.

Instead, Suttle read a statement Monday about his decision, saying, "I will not be doing questions and answers today," before leaving the podium.

"We will answer questions on all press conferences, that’s a promise, in the future,” Suttle said on Tuesday.

“So you learned something from that?” asked a reporter.

“I think I did, I learned a lot this weekend,” replied Suttle, who said he didn’t know about Samp’s alleged history until he received a phone call while he was in West Virginia on Saturday.

Suttle said he had heard rumors about everyone from his opponents to City Council members.

“I had one call about my staff person from someone who's not tied to my campaign who said there’s something going on. I said what is it? He said, ‘I didn’t know.’ You calling me to tell me there’s a problem and you don’t know what the problem is, two weeks before the primary. I just blew that off, too."

He likened the allegations to the gossip that unfairly smeared many prominent people in the metro during the 1980's "Franklin Credit Union" scandal.

So we asked if it's gossip, why fire Samp? "It doesn't make any difference whether it's perception or reality -- treat them the same," says Suttle. "It's time to part company and I did."

Suttle attended his final meeting as a member of the City Council Tuesday afternoon.

Nebraska political analyst Doug Parrott with Bailey Lauerman says it's a giant leap from the City Council to being mayor of Omaha.

“I think the mayor of Omaha is one of the most powerful positions politically in the state along with governor and the two senators. Everything he does, every appointment he makes, especially his key staff positions and department heads, will be scrutinized or under a microscope and I think he’s now grasping just how much he's gonna be in the spotlight every day."

Suttle hopes to put this issue behind him and concentrate on three things he wants to tackle in his first two weeks in office: This year’s $5.5-million budget shortfall and how to stabilize it (he believes a major portion of the shortfall can be overcome through negotiating wage freezes with all city employees and elected officials), next year’s budget and the $520-million police and fire pension shortfall (he believes it's time for the public to talk seriously about the three possible tax solutions proposed by the pension task force).

Suttle will be sworn in as mayor Monday, June 8.