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West Side voters will decide between two candidates who both stress their professional experience and credentials in a runoff contest for an open sa国际传媒官网网页入口 City Council seat on Dec. 9.

Stephanie Telles, 41, a Democrat, is a forensic accountant and fraud examiner who worked for the New Mexico Office of the State Auditor and is founder and CEO of Oto帽o Consulting, a fraud risk management firm.

She will square off against Joshua Neal, 29, a land development engineer for sa国际传媒官网网页入口-based Bohannan Huston, who has worked on commercial and residential development projects in New Mexico. Neal identifies as a Republican.

Telles and Neal were the top two vote-getters Nov. 4 in a four-way contest for City Council District 1, which lies north of Central Avenue nearly as far north as Paseo del Norte on sa国际传媒官网网页入口鈥檚 West Side.

Telles led with 36% of the vote to Neal鈥檚 26%, sending the contest to a runoff that will decide a successor for Councilor Louie Sanchez, who chose not to seek reelection this year to pursue a bid for mayor. He was unsuccessful. The Nov. 4 election eliminated Ahren Griego, a retired sa国际传媒官网网页入口 firefighter, and Daniel Leiva, a lawyer and city employee.

Neal said he has experience helping companies navigate the process of getting permits and site-plan approvals for large housing and commercial projects and could help sa国际传媒官网网页入口 create a more efficient process for businesses.

鈥淚 would love to have an impact on that and helping make the process a little simpler, a little more straightforward,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e seen some developers that want to build here in sa国际传媒官网网页入口 and they just throw their hands up.鈥�

Neal has a bachelor鈥檚 degree in civil engineering from New Mexico Tech.

The race has developed a partisan edge. In campaign mailers, Neal called Telles and the two other candidates 鈥渓iberal Democrats鈥� and 鈥渞adical progressives whose policies will lead to more crime, drugs and homelessness in our city.鈥�

In an interview this week, Neal said he considers himself a moderate Republican.

鈥淚 have no concern with letting people know that I鈥檓 a conservative candidate,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 personally believe I鈥檓 pretty moderate.鈥�

Neal also called Telles a 鈥渧ery far left candidate鈥� and claimed she favors rent control and defunding the police.

Telles rejected Neal鈥檚 assertion that she favors defunding the police. She said rent control might be worth considering as a possible solution for addressing a crisis in housing affordability. She also rejected the 鈥渞adical鈥� label.

鈥淚鈥檓 radical about results,鈥� Telles responded. 鈥淲hat I believe in is keeping our community safe.鈥� Telles doesn鈥檛 mention her opponents in her campaign materials. 鈥淲e鈥檙e just focused on the community and our values and outcomes.鈥�

Telles teaches fraud examination and forensic accounting as an adjunct professor at the University of New Mexico鈥檚 Anderson School of Management, where she earned her MBA.

鈥淚f you want to see what your city cares about, you look at the budget,鈥� Telles said. 鈥淎s a budget expert, I can see where our spending is going 鈥� where we can maybe be a little leaner in one area鈥� and direct funds into more effective programs.

鈥淢y work as a government accountability specialist allows me to see things through that sort of lens,鈥� she said.

Neal鈥檚 largest campaign contributors include $2,000 each from the New Mexico Association of Realtors, RXL LLC, an sa国际传媒官网网页入口 firm and John Rockwell, an sa国际传媒官网网页入口 investor and entrepreneur.

Telles鈥� largest contributors are $2,000 each from the Working Families Party PAC, a Brooklyn, New York-based organization, and Sen. Katy Duhigg, D-sa国际传媒官网网页入口.