Gregory Russ, the brand new chairman of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) stopped at a call center Thursday as part of his two-week tour of the agency he now runs.

"Did you happen to notice if it was the hot or the cold water running?" one customer service representative said to a caller.

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Russ has been visiting public housing developments across the city since he started his new job Monday, making both announced and unannounced visits.

NY1 met him for an exclusive interview at the agency's customer call center in Queens. We wanted to check in on how things were going.

Russ is charged with trying to fix an agency that is plagued by scandal and now has a federal monitor overseeing major operations.

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"Some of the most important stuff was to be out at the properties and get a chance to see the units and meet the folks who live there," Russ said.

Russ is trying to get a handle on all of this. As his employees fielded calls from residents looking for fixes to their apartments, we showed him some stats. They showed most repairs are taking longer than last year, meaning residents wait weeks to get rid of mildew or a leak.

When asked what he thinks of the numbers, Russ answered cautiously.

"I think you've got a physical plant that's aging pretty rapidly and I think there is a sense of urgency, because when you look at the trend lines, the trend lines indicate we have a housing stock that's getting harder to fix," he said.

But the former head of the Minneapolis public housing authority says he can handle it.  "I don't feel overwhelmed," Russ said. "I feel like this is a big organization and I am going to spend time with it."

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Russ says he is not overwhelmed, but NYCHA does have a lot of problems to fix. For instance, this center alone gets about three million calls a year.

After years of scandal, City Hall is certainly trying to boost the new chair's profile. The mayor's team even released a promotional video for him Thursday evening.

"Where do the residents think we should put that money? Where do we think we should put that money? And where do we line up?"

All of those questions may soon be answered.

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