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You've probably never heard of Javier Benavidez.

But you might have heard about some of his work, like the $1.8 million City Council bill that passed in 2004 to create an economic development organization to revitalize West Central Avenue.

Benavidez, a member of the City Council staff, lost a lot of sleep that week.

"I was here sometimes around the clock," he said. "I would go home and sleep for a few hours and come back - that was a time when I was here probably a good 20 hours (a day) for a few weeks."

Benavidez is one of nine policy analysts for the City Council, the bureaucratic grunts who strive to research and shape legislation they'll never get credit for.

Each councilor has an analyst to draft legislation, tackle constituent issues and speak with constituents on behalf of their boss.

The first policy analyst was hired in 1992 and worked for all nine councilors. By 2001, the number grew to five. And finally, in 2006, the council voted to have a policy analyst for each councilor.

Councilor Ken Sanchez, a former Bernalillo County commissioner, said he didn't understand why councilors didn't each have their own analysts as the county commissioners did.

"I just felt they were way overworked for those one or two councilors they were working for," he said.

Because most councilors have full-time jobs, Sanchez said, they aren't able to attend every meeting or inspect every piece of legislation.

Policy analysts "do a lot of the legwork, attend a lot of the meetings," he said. "They've been a tremendous asset and make our time more valuable."

The council spent about $243,000 to hire four additional policy analysts last year. Councilors now say they can do their jobs more effectively.

Benavidez, the policy analyst for Councilor Martin Heinrich, worked for three councilors before 2006.

He and other analysts said it was difficult to get any work done when they were assigned to multiple councilors at once.

"With three councilors, you're doing your best to prioritize and seeing which cases you can make a difference for," Benavidez said. "It's tough, but sometimes you had to tell someone, `I'm sorry. I did the best I can.' It's not possible to do everything for everybody."

Now that he's down to one councilor, he said he gets more accomplished.

"The positive thing is, you get to put a lot more depth into your work," he said. "You're able to do a lot more special projects where you're going above and beyond everyday crisis management."

Analysts are paid about $45,000 per year and work 45-55 hours every week. City councilors, on the other hand, get less than $10,000 and work 20-30 hours per week.

Three policy analysts — Benavidez, Diana Trujeque, and Mike McCan — are tenured because they were on staff before 2006.

The remaining six analysts have to worry about their jobs every municipal election season. If the councilor they work for isn't re-elected, they can be fired.

Isaac Padilla, policy analyst for Councilor Don Harris, said it doesn't concern him because he plans on getting his doctorate by then.

"I never really considered retiring with the city anyway," he said.

Trujeque, analyst for Councilor Brad Winter, said while having one analyst per councilor is more effective, it also comes with greater responsibility.

"It's obvious if you're serving one councilor, you're able to to do much more than if you were able to have three," she said. "Expectations are higher, too."

Trujeque, who also works as a manager for the analysts, said it's not a typical 9-to-5 job.

"We tell people from the get-go if they are looking a job that is a 40-hour-a-week, this isn't the job for them," she said. "Council meetings go very late. Neighborhood meetings are mostly in the evening. The expectation is there."

Sanchez said he hired his policy analyst, Elaine Romero, because she was from his district.

"This is what I was looking for," he said, "someone who knew the pulse and heartbeat of the community."

Benavidez said it's his job to stay behind the scenes.

"Part of the job is accepting that you're not going to get credit," he said. "That's what you're there for, making the council look good."