AUSTIN, Texas — With several Austin City Council seats on the ballot, voters in District 8 are choosing between two candidates in an open race that could shape day-to-day life in Southwest Austin for the next four years.

Districts 1, 3, 5, 8 and 9 are on the ballot. District 8, which covers Southwest Austin including Circle C Ranch, Zilker Park, and the Barton Springs Greenbelt, has no incumbent running.

The District 8 seat is currently filled by Paige Ellis. The two candidates on the ballot are Selena Xie, an Austin-Travis County EMS commander, and Jeffery Bowen, a construction management expert.

Xie said, “I’m running for the Austin City Council because public safety is 70% of the budget, and yet right now we don’t have anybody on council with public safety experience.”

Xie served as president of the EMS union for six years and has been with Austin-Travis County EMS for 14 years. She said she wants to bring her experience with budgets and city operations to the council.

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“I’ve dealt with city budgets for at least six years being president of the EMS union, and honestly it feels every year that the budget is really tight. I’m a city employee for 14 years, like I said, and so I do think that having that experience on the inside can also share maybe what are some things that we can cut before we ask residents for more tax money,” Xie said.

Bowen previously ran for mayor against Kirk Watson and has served as president of the Austin Neighborhoods Council. He said his decision to run was driven by concerns about the direction of the council.

“I just wasn’t happy with where the council was going, and so it came down to a matter of saying you’re either part of the problem, and I just saw a lack of responsiveness and some leadership,” Bowen said.

Dissatisfaction with the current council, including how it handles finances, has been a theme among candidates across the districts with races this year. The city has put measures on the ballot asking Austinites to increase their property taxes or pay for bonds, and Bowen said he wants to start by reviewing what is already in the budget.

“One of the ways that I want to approach this is based on program performance, because if we got programs that are not performing, I really believe we need ot to say look at why they are not performing. Is there a good scope of work? Are the performance standards there?” Bowen said.

Austin City Council is made up of 10 single-member districts, with each council member serving a four-year term. This year, three of the races have an incumbent running, while two — including District 8 — do not.