On Don Wesely’s first day as Lincoln’s mayor in 1999, he drove to City Hall and parked in the public parking lot across the street and reported for work.

Nobody had told him the mayor gets to park in the underground parking garage.

Nobody told him where the refrigerator had gone, so he had no place to store the punch for the reception after his swearing-in ceremony. (Former Mayor Mike Johanns’ staffers had paid for the fridge, so they took it with them, he later learned.)

He’d decided the day after he was elected, about a dozen days prior, not to keep much of Johanns’ staff. They weren’t very happy with him.

“I was basically told not to come in until I was inaugurated,” he said.

Nobody explained which positions he had the authority to hire and fire.

“I had next to no information about personnel matters that I needed to make decisions about,” he said.

Once he was officially mayor, it didn’t get much better.

“Frankly, I didn’t get a lot of help with that,” he says. “I found, basically, if I didn’t ask the question, I didn’t get the information.”

On his second day, he was introduced to a 2-foot-high pile of executive orders that needed his signature.

He soon learned about that meeting with the City Council every Monday morning and cabinet meeting every Wednesday.

At his first meeting with the city’s dozen directors, he said, “I really didn’t even know all the people who were there.”

Becoming mayor was like being thrown into the deep end of a swimming pool, he said.

Wesely’s predecessor describes it similarly.

“It’s sink or swim, and you need to swim right away,” Johanns said.

Johanns at least had the benefit of having been a city councilman before getting elected. He knew his way around City Hall but said the two-week window between the election and taking office was still very narrow.

“It happens very, very fast,” he said. “You really do learn on the job.”

There’s no time to recover from the campaign; staffing decisions must be made quickly and the new mayor is thrown into the budget process overnight.

When Johanns was elected governor, he had a few months to adjust, hire people and work on a legislative plan and budget.

“The governor’s office was a very, very big step but I had some time to adjust,” Johanns said. “He doesn’t have that time. You’re elected and then you’re mayor.”

So how exactly does one learn to be mayor? There’s no training to speak of.

“You learn by trial and error,” Johanns said.

Beutler has the benefit of having friends like Wesely, who says he’s been trying to tell Beutler “all the things I wish I’d known.”

Like this: “Be very cautious about what you say to anybody… Whatever you say privately, be prepared to read about in the paper.”

Like Beutler, Wesely had been a state senator for years before being elected mayor. He realized things had changed when he went to his child’s school and a line soon formed of kids wanting his signature in their yearbooks.

He’d been going there for years and that had never happened before.

“There’s a fascination with the mayor that isn’t there with the state senator,” Wesely said. “That was my first clue that I’d entered a new world.”

Johanns was kind enough to offer him one piece of advice: Never cancel a holiday. Johanns learned that the hard way when an ice storm prompted him to postpone trick-or-treating in 1991.

Wesely had some advice for Coleen Seng when she took office in 2003: Take time off, enjoy the job and don’t burn yourself out, as Wesely feels he did.

In that spirit, we asked past and present mayors for a little advice for Chris Beutler as he is sworn in as Lincoln’s mayor today. Here’s what they had to say:

Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey

“Government works best when people work together. … Above all, do not spend all your time  micromanaging people or the process.

Surround yourself with good people. I think it’s important to give them the authority they need to do the job and then hold them accountable for that but not to get involved in the minutiae.”

Former Mayor Helen Boosalis

“It was always very important to be open and honest about what was going on in the mayor’s office.

I started news conferences… every couple weeks. I thought it was important for the people to be advised what was going on.”

Waverly Mayor Ron Melbye

“Duck! Duck and cover.”

“The most important part is to work with the City Council and make things happen in your city.”

Hickman Mayor Jim Hrouda

“Have an open mind and an open ear and listen to what the people say.”

“Send more people our way.”

Former Lincoln Mayor Mike Johanns

“Just be yourself. That’s why people put you in that office. They’ll allow you to make some mistakes.

… I’ve known Chris for years and years and my best advice to him is go into that office and be yourself.

This is going to come very naturally to him very quickly.

… My hope is that he’s a great mayor. I’ve got kids and grandkids (there).”

Former Lincoln Mayor Don Wesely

“Get a really good team that can work well together and fits your style. If you get the right people and you provide the right leadership, amazing things can happen.

Focus on the big picture because you can get caught up in the mayor’s office with the thousands of documents you sign and the thousands of events you attend. Focus on the big issues that really drive the city.