Don't worry - she promises to get your question answered or get you to the right person.

If you have riverfront property and 21-year-old Michael Grant approaches you with some questions, he's just doing his job - researching the best way for Haverhill to develop its downtown and other areas along the Merrimack River.

Brown and Grant are working at City Hall for the summer, but they hope their efforts have a lasting effect. They are two of five summer interns doing everything from answering phones and filing paperwork in the mayor's office to gathering information for development projects.

Another of the interns is Jeffrey Roth, who is studying public policy and urban planning at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Roth is taking a close look at the downtown district and how its mix of residential and commercial use will mesh with plans for growth.

"We're looking at issues like how to keep the streets cleaned and maintained," Roth said. "My hope is to deliver a working plan that helps the city think about these issues and generate priorities that will rally people around these issues."

Roth, 27, is here on a fellowship through the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston. He pursued the internship in Haverhill out of a desire for hands-on experience in local government.

"The mayor encourages us to put our necks out there and express our own ideas," Roth said. "This is a great learning experience."

Mayor James Fiorentini said he picked these five interns because of their particular skills and education, and he plans to use their knowledge to help him sort out some of the top issues facing the city.

"Jeff is helping us develop a master plan for the downtown, while Jeff and Mike Grant are working on a parking plan," Fiorentini said. "They're reviewing the best practices in other communities."

Joel Vargas is also working on the parking issue, while Yajun Zhang is researching performance-oriented government.

"Mayor Guerin had three assistants. I have only two," Fiorentini said. "Having these five interns this summer is invaluable to me. I didn't realize until this summer how much more I can accomplish with these assistants."

Fiorentini recently sent Zhang on a visit to Somerville to study the effectiveness of the CitiStat program - a computer database system that allows municipalities to regularly review every aspect of city government.

"One example is we could use it to measure things such as how many potholes are filled per month," Fiorentini said.

Zhang's stay in America is being paid for by a scholarship from the French Foreign Ministry.

"I feel like I'm learning a lot and that the mayor gave us real jobs," Zhang said. "I'm really involved here, and I like it."

Joel Vargas is gathering information from other communities that have pay-to-park programs. So far he's convinced that paying to park in a downtown area can be good for businesses, although it can take awhile for residents and shoppers to get used to the change from free parking.

"It can be helpful to businesses by increasing the customer turnover rate," Vargas said. "But people do get aggravated at first."

Brown, the youngest of this year's summer interns, helps Fiorentini's assistant Jennifer Gariepy by answering the phone, entering data and writing letters. She pursued the job in hopes of getting some real-world office experience. Her career goal is to become a lawyer.

"The mayor is teaching me how things work, and sometimes he talks about how he became a lawyer," Brown said. "The work here is fun and interesting."

Grant hopes to update the city's open space recreation plan during his internship. He says that by having an updated plan for how the city will maintain its conservation, recreation and open-space areas, it will help in applying for state and federal grants.

"A lot of my classes involved urban planning, so this job is giving me good experience in that area," Grant said.

Fiorentini also has Grant researching the riverfront overlay districts - which regulate the use of waterfront development.

"We're looking at public access to the water and ways of incorporating the river into future development," Grant said.