Look, don’t blame me.

When I suggested in September that the Funk might ease tensions with the City Council by working at home, how was I to know he’d follow my advice?

After all, when I ran my idea past him, Mayor Mark Funkhouser said no way would he think of moving operations to the family compound in Brookside.

“I might get beat, but I’m not going to give up,” he said.

Meaning it would be like admitting defeat if he were to allow the City Council to run both him and his wife, Gloria Squitiro, out of City Hall. The council pushed her out of the mayor’s office by putting new restrictions on volunteers.

Besides, Funkhouser said, “I don’t see any practical benefits for the citizens.”

Yet almost exactly a month after that phone call, Funkhouser told council members he was discontinuing regular meetings with some of them so he’d have more flexibility in his schedule.

 And while claiming that he has always tried to make himself available, there’d be less face time on the 29th floor of City Hall.

“You all have my personal cell phone number,” he said. “And you can always call me and Gloria at the house.”

Sure enough, Funkhouser is spending more time at home with Gloria. This includes holding staff meetings there so she might be included.

This isn’t entirely new. He’s always had meetings at home. Only now he’s having more.

And as you might have read, some council members are in a snit over this. They say Funkhouser should work out of the office the taxpayers provide him at 12th and Oak streets.

“This is a serious concern,” John Sharp told The Star’s DeAnn Smith, seemingly in all seriousness.

“We are dealing with a very, very, very unique type of leadership,” Beth Gottstein sniffed.

And if the mayor’s new routine creates a traffic nuisance for his neighbors, “I would hope they would call about it,” Jan Marcason said.

In short, the council’s response has been even more silly and childish than the mayor’s antics are at times.

Questions are even being raised about whether, by working at home, Funkhouser is breaking zoning rules. And might he be risking a complaint about accessibility for the disabled if someone using a wheelchair might want to meet with him at his house?

In short, it’s – how should I put this? Oh, yeah, right. Nutso. That’s what it is.

Now, you expect nitpicking criticism from the mayor’s critics in the community and the blogosphere. But when council members engage in it publicly, it just goes to show you that Funkhouser is not entirely to blame for a seeming breakdown in cooperation between him and the City Council.

“I’ve been surprised at this fixation on how he runs his office,” says Kendrick Blackwood, Funkhouser’s chief of staff. “I wish more attention was paid to what he’s doing and how he’s trying to achieve it.”

Me, too, because contrary to what his critics seem to believe, this mayor is not without his accomplishments. He led the fight for a more realistic city budget. He pushed through reforms on business tax incentives and is working on programs to boost investment in the inner city.

Give him credit, too, for trying to reduce the number of steel plates on city streets.

Yes, he shoots himself in the foot with some regularity. Yes, he’s stubborn and would help himself by being more conciliatory.

But while unorthodox, his new working arrangement is not unreasonable, either. So what if he holds staff meetings at the house? They aren’t public gatherings.

And if he chooses to work where he can bounce ideas off his spouse, how does that impinge on the workings of city government?

He still communicates with city officials on a daily basis. He still attends meetings at City Hall. He’s still out in the community promoting projects such as light rail, which is more than some council members can claim.

Blackwood says that, except for a weekly staff meeting on Wednesday afternoons, the mayor’s office at City Hall is staffed during regular business hours.

About the only harm I can see in his choosing to work more at home is that it casts more doubt on the slogan Funkhouser used successfully in his campaign for mayor.

“A city that works”? Not if he and the council can’t find a way to work together.

Council members can do that by cutting the guy some slack. Give him credit for trying to do a good job.