When Easton Mayor Phil Mitman entered office on Jan 5, 2004, he inherited a host of problems.

The city’s financial outlook was bleak, economic development was stagnant and the police department was reeling from a number of multimillion-dollar civil rights lawsuits.

As Mitman, 63, leaves city hall on Tuesday to serve as executive director of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp., he leaves behind questions of whether he tackled those challenges or fell victim to them.

‘‘I believe we set a stronger foundation for the future,’‘ Mitman said during a recent interview. ‘‘I hope, as many years as it takes, people will say, ‘Mitman and his administration took a lot of grief, inherited some stuff that wasn’t his, and he and the administration…set a better stage for Easton than when they took over in 2004.’‘’