Patti Bushee is not tired. After 18 years on the City Council, she says she has more energy than ever.

Bushee, 52, the longest-serving councilor on the governing body, is campaigning for what will be her fifth elected four-year term. She still gets excited enough about trying to find solutions to the city's problems that she waves her arms in the air and pounds on the table while she talks about it.

"This is a job interview every four years," she said during a recent meal at a restaurant in her district. She has served on every major committee for city officials and has chaired the Bicycle and Trails Advisory Committee since its inception.

Bushee likes to use the phrase "independent voice" in her campaign. It's an idea that's backed up by actions. The councilor recently came down on the minority side of several votes that were initiatives of Mayor David Coss and had broad support.

She said she does not see herself as the contrarian on the council, but she asserts that she has become more financially conservative than some of her counterparts. Last year, for example, she voted against approving the city budget and against two of three measures asking voters to issue general obligation bonds using property taxes to fund a list of capital projects.

"I'm not a go-along-to-get-along kind of gal. I'm going to speak my mind clearly and independently about what I think is right or wrong, or necessary or unnecessary, or a priority or not a priority," she said.

Bushee also sometimes has been the only councilor who stays in the council chambers while all the others go into closed-door executive sessions -- something she says is born of her interest in keeping government business conducted in public.

While the councilor has introduced some measures that got traction with other officials, her legislative attempts don't always succeed. For example, she is behind an effort to rethink a 2008 annexation agreement with Santa Fe County in which the city agreed to take jurisdiction over more territory, especially on the growing southwest side. The resolution she introduced to renegotiate the timeline of the boundary changes stalled out last year. Another effort to prevent the city from using reserves from enterprise funds such as utilities to balance the overall budget also fell flat last year.

When it comes to dealing with the city's budget, there's no question that Bushee has institutional memory and experience-based understanding of spending.

The incumbent does not have a grand plan for resolving the budget squeeze that has particularly plagued the city since the 2009 recession.

She's at least partly banking on a rebound. "We have fortunately had a little uptick in our gross receipts [tax revenue], so we may not see the dire budget gap that we saw the last go-round," she said. "I am not promising that things are going to be completely rosy, but they are looking better."

She wants her colleagues on the council to slow the pace of spending for big-ticket items and land purchases that have raised her eyebrows in recent years. For example, Bushee won support from many in the Casa Solana neighborhood in her district when she opposed a city housing project on city-owned land in the northwest sector. She also voted against city purchase of land on Siler Road for an undetermined future facility.

Bushee has always enjoyed a wide margin of victory in council races in her north-side district. When she made a citywide run for mayor in 2002, she lost to Larry Delgado by fewer than 3 percentage points. In District 1 races, she's never had less than 61 percent of the vote. In 2008, she cleared nearly 73 percent of votes in a race against Anthony Garcia.

When that election season kicked off, Bushee had said it was likely to be her last term on the City Council. At the time, her father was ill and she was traveling frequently to be with him, and her full-time job at the Office of the State Engineer was keeping her busy.

"I had different personal circumstances that were pulling on my time," she said. "I had to think about it, but things have changed. My dad is stabilized, and I'm not working for the state anymore. I have more time and more energy than I've ever had to do the job."

She said she's also happy to throw her hat in the ring again because there will be three new councilors after the elections. She is the only incumbent seeking re-election March 6.

It's sometimes hard to have a conversation in public with Bushee because her face is familiar all over town. Delma Delora, a nurse and labor organizer in the health care industry, recently rushed over to where Bushee was sitting with a reporter.

"It's good to see you again," she said, giving the councilor a hug. "Well, I'm supporting you. Me and my family."

Bushee said her goals for the next term include getting a handle on public-safety issues at the city's Railyard Park and in residential areas affected by burglary.

She did not succeed in efforts over the last few years to get the Santa Fe Police Department to end a policy that allows officers to drive patrol cars to their homes outside the city limits. However, she takes at least partial credit for influencing police Chief Ray Rael to nix the option for new recruits.

The councilor established a business as a landscape designer more than two decades ago. She says Ladybug Landscaping is a very small operation now, with only a few part-time workers.

Contact Julie Ann Grimm at 986-3017 or jgrimm@sfnewmexican.com.

Patti Bushee

Age: 52

Education: Bachelor's degree in international affairs from the University of Maine; studied international economics at George Washington University; studied for a year in Spain at La Universidad de Sevilla.

Occupation: Owns a landscaping company.

Experience: City councilor since 1994; chairs the city Bicycle and Trails Advisory Committee; serves on the Finance Committee, Public Utilities Committee and Regional Planning Authority; former employee of the State Engineer's Office.

Personal: Born in Stoneham, Mass.; moved to Santa Fe about three decades ago years ago from Maine; lives in the Barrio de Torreon neighborhood.

Campaign info: Publicly financed campaign; http://pattibushee.com.