UPDATED: Thursday 1:37 p.m.

It’s official: Adam Joseph, the city’s Lobbyist in Hartford, will be taking over the city’s top communications post next week.

As Mayor John DeStefano Jr. told the News Wednesday night, he appointed Joseph to replace Jessica Mayorga, his second-longest serving spokeswoman.

“I am grateful for this opportunity and look forward to working with our media community to ensure that residents are always well-informed and engaged in what City Hall is doing,” Joseph said in a press release issued by Mayorga Thursday.

Joseph worked as deputy finance director of DeStefano’s unsuccessful gubernatorial bid in 2006, and later as deputy communications director to Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz ’83. Joseph began his job as DeStefano’s legislative liaison in the fall of 2008.

DeStefano said the city’s search for a new legislative director is underway.

Mayorga, who is taking a job as the marketing director of National Council of La Raza, a Latino rights group, has managed DeStefano’s communications team since March 2007.