Mesa Mayor Scott Smith/Tribune file photo

Mesa Mayor Scott Smith probably prepped for a variety of tough topics before his first town-hall style meeting Thursday night: the departure of former police Chief George Gascon, blight at Southern Avenue and Alama School Road, the future of light rail.

But Smith couldn’t possibly have been ready when the first audience question came from Karen Vinck, whose boyfriend of 10 years had been shot to death on his front lawn less than 19 hours earlier. Vinck wanted to know what Smith was going to do as mayor to better enforce the city’s noise ordinance, as that apparently was at the heart of the dispute with a neighbor that led to the shooting.

The smoothness with how Smith answered illustrates how this former homebuilder has blossomed in his role as Mesa top elected official over the past year. He avoided a President Obama-Henry Louis Gates moment while showing sympathy for Vinck as a victim and providing some real information.

“Right now, our noise ordinance requires someone to be a complaining party for the police to enforce it,” Smith said. “It pits neighbor against neighbor.”

The mayor added the city is looking at a switch in the law from being a crime to civil-based with new standards for determining noise levels, which would permit the police to enforce it more consistently even with anonymous complaints.

Smith has given plenty of public speeches since he was elected in May 2008. But Thursday’s appearance at the Mesa Arts Center was different: the mayor inviting the public to come and speak with him directly about whatever was on their mind.

Over the course of an hour, Smith got to answer those other questions, too. He did so with blend of enthusiastic support for the city of his birth, a sprinkling of history both cultural and demographic, and a hefty dose of genuine humor and self-deprecation that made Smith seem like he could be just about anyone’s neighbor instead of one of the Valley’s political elite.

Where once there were doubts about Smith’s readiness for office, he has emerged as Mesa’s true leader. He has big expectations for Arizona’s third largest city and presents a vision for future development that’s hard to argue with. (It goes by the call letters H.E.A.T., which stand for health, education, aerospace and tourism).

He can talk tough too, such as when he says Mesa’s financial structure when he took office meant the police and fire departments had to share in the reorganization and budget cutting. To protect public safety from any changes would have forced Mesa to slash everything else it does to virtually nothing, he said.

“A community doesn’t exist if you only have a police department or a fire department,” Smith said. “I’m sorry. That’s not a community.”

He has a good track record already, with the City Council embracing his approach to getting Mesa’s fiscal house back in shape and overwhelming voter support for the planned Gaylord resort and conference center.

It’s not a coincidence the format for Smith’s “Conversations with the Community” mirror the style of public meetings that many in Congress like to use (well, until this summer’s blow up over health care reform, anyway). Smith is committed to leading Mesa right now, but clearly he is preparing for a time when he will seek higher office. Maricopa County Supervisor? The Legislature? Governor? U.S. Senator?

I have no special insight as to what ultimate desires he might have. But so far, what is good for Smith’s political career generally has been good for Mesa as well.