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Common ground between Mayor Martin Chavez and the City Council has been difficult to come by lately.

Dueling news conferences, charges of back-room deals, mayoral vetoes and council over-rides have featured prominently in the back-and-forth of city politics.

"I would like very much to get along and to just work policy by policy, issue by issue with the administration," Councilor Don Harris said at Monday's council meeting. "But there's some healing that needs to be done and the mending of some fences."

This week, Chavez created a new job of dealing directly with the council. Bianca Ortiz Wertheim will make $79,000 a year as the city's legislative coordinator.

It's a position council President Debbie O'Malley sees as unnecessary. Traditionally, the city's chief administrative officer - currently Bruce Perlman - has been in charge of working with the council, she said.

"I assume that's what we pay Dr. Perlman for," O'Malley said Thursday. "It seems like it's not very clear what her (Ortiz Wertheim's) duties are."

Chavez and Perlman say the job is needed in a growing city, with a growing budget and growing complexities. The job has been in the works for at least six months, long before the latest squabbling, they said.

Most recently, the council and the mayor disagreed over the mayor's proposed -cent gross receipts tax cut. The council delayed the cut by six months - and overrode the mayor's veto - to give $9.2 million to Bernalillo County for operations of the Metropolitan Detention Center.

Chavez called that a back-room deal. Councilors wondered aloud if he was connected to radio ads and automated phone calls criticizing their position.

At a meeting in March, facing aggressive questioning from councilors about the city's $160 million capital budget, Perlman told city department heads to walk out.

"We do not appear under subpoena," Perlman told the council. "We're here to work out problems. We're not here to be cross-examined."

Ortiz Wertheim said she can mend those fences and still push forward the mayor's agenda.

To do that, she said, she's ready to work closely with each councilor.

"I think it's important that they know who I am and that they know they can talk to me about any of their interests," she said. "It's a part of building familiarity with me and the position I'm in."

She understands that there is friction between the council and the administration, she said. But she is optimistic.

"I hope to accomplish a lot, and I'm realistic that it's going to take a measured approach," she said. "And it's going to take baby steps to get there."

Councilor Martin Heinrich said Ortiz Wertheim will make a positive change.

Heinrich worked with her when she was a liaison between Gov. Bill Richardson and his Cabinet from 2004-2006. Heinrich was the state's natural resources trustee.

"I think she's the right person at the right time to try and bring people back together," he said. "Diplomacy can only go so far. There has to be results, but I have a great deal of confidence in her."

Other councilors are skeptical.

Ortiz Wertheim, wife of the former state Democratic Party Chairman John Wertheim, is just another political appointee, Councilor Brad Winter said.

"It's not going to help any," Winter said. "I think it's a wasted position."

Ortiz Wertheim said she isn't working only for the mayor, but also for the council.

"I do respect the council, so I hope I can develop a strong communication and relationship," she said. "So there is a win-win for city council and the mayor, and ultimately the taxpayers of the city."