{"id":13414,"date":"2026-02-20T18:00:49","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T01:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-mayor-rachel-medina-prepares-to-say-goodbye\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:36:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:36:27","slug":"cortez-mayor-rachel-medina-prepares-to-say-goodbye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-mayor-rachel-medina-prepares-to-say-goodbye\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez Mayor Rachel Medina prepares to say goodbye"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rachel
Rachel Medina was twice appointed mayor by the City Council; now she\u2019s saying an early goodbye. (Courtesy of Rachel Medina)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

After April, Cortez Mayor Rachel Medina might take up gardening again. She loves squash and tomatoes for their infinite ability to produce, a trait she admits \u2013 after announcing her resignation in January \u2013 she does not have.<\/p>\n

Medina became Cortez\u2019s youngest mayor in recent history in 2022. She was reappointed in 2024. While her term on City Council was set to end in April 2028, she said she resigned because her full\u2011time job requires travel and the list of mayoral duties kept growing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to walk away early, but I just felt like it was the right thing to do,\u201d Medina said \u201cI couldn\u2019t provide the same level of commitment that I had over the last six years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rachel
Rachel Medina (right) greets Sen. John Hickenlooper at his Town Hall in Cortez with Montezuma County Commissioner Jim Candelaria and former Ute Mountain Ute Chairman Manuel Heart in August 2024. (Courtesy of Rachel Medina)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Her arrival on City Council during the pandemic six years ago was messy. Medina recalled the tension in the city as weekly protests and counterprotests marched down Main Street, organized by the Montezuma County Patriots and the Walk for Justice and Peace.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was just a lot of heated community divide for a long time,\u201d Medina said.<\/p>\n

During the pandemic, the city also struggled with the fallout after discovering the former finance director had embezzled funds. Years behind on financial audits, Medina and the council hired Drew Sanders as city manager. She said Sanders got the city back into compliance and instituted financial checks and balances. The government also enrolled in ClearGov, allowing residents to view the city\u2019s budget<\/a> online.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a huge accomplishment \u2013 getting the city financially on track, transparent (and) building back that public trust,\u201d Medina said.<\/p>\n

She is also proud the city paid off millions of dollars in water\u2011project debt, updated the land\u2011use code, improved staff wages, completed citywide fiber\u2011internet installation and campaigned for Denver Air Connection to take over flights into the municipal airport.<\/p>\n

\"Rachel
Rachel Medina flies in a Denver Air Connection plane in February 2022, before the company was selected as the commercial airline service for the Cortez Municipal Airport. (Courtesy of Rachel Medina)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Cortez
Cortez Mayor Rachel Medina stands with former Dolores Mayor Leigh Reeves and Mancos Mayor Queenie Barz at the Colorado Municipal League Conference in June 2022. (Courtesy of Rachel Medina)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cI just feel like the city\u2019s been in a really good place,\u201d Medina said.<\/p>\n

On top of being more fiscally sound, she said relationships with Montezuma County, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and other municipalities have improved through \u201cboard to board\u201d meetings between Cortez and neighboring governments.<\/p>\n

However, as Medina prepares to leave office, the city still faces significant challenges. Public testimony<\/a> on the South Softball Complex at the last City Council meeting highlighted deferred maintenance and inadequate funding in the Parks and Recreation Department.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think folks who run for City Council tend to want to build a legacy and add on to everything we have,\u201d Medina said. \u201cBecause that\u2019s so much more fun than just maintaining what we already have been committed to.\u201d<\/p>\n

She noted that housing and employment remain some of the city\u2019s top challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a community, how do we get people to either be able to stay here and have jobs or move here and have good jobs and have that housing,\u201d Medina said. She said that question remains for the City Council in its next era.<\/p>\n

\"Mayor
Mayor Rachel Medina (center) stands with council members April Randle (left) and Lydia DeHaven (right) at the opening of Tawi Kaan affordable housing in October 2024. (Rachel Medina)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

City Council members who worked alongside her see an uncertain future ahead as Medina returns to life as a regular citizen.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe loves the city and she\u2019s really given it her all,\u201d council member Lydia DeHaven said. \u201cShe really is good at taking in opposing views and coming up with compromises.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeHaven lauded Medina\u2019s work on the new land\u2011use code approved in 2025, which was intended to lessen congestion and promote energy conservation among other updates. She also noted the difficulties the City Council will face in the April 7 election with Medina\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s such a large turnover in officials,\u201d DeHaven said. \u201cI think it\u2019s going to leave a big hole to not have Rachel there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Five seats are up for election, with veteran council member Dennis Spruell seeking another term. The other 10 candidates are new to the Cortez City Council, Spruell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is going to be the biggest issue \u2013 the fact that we are going to be a rookie council,\u201d Spruell said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be tough without Rachel and other council members who had a lot of time on council.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Medina is ready for the tantalizing prospect of more free time, she still can\u2019t commit to permanently stepping away. She\u2019ll take a year off, she said, while considering a state\u2011level campaign or a run for county commissioner.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy commitment to this community is definitely not over with,\u201d Medina said.<\/p>\n

After a few more City Council sessions, Medina will say goodbye at the end of April \u2013 if only temporarily.<\/p>\n

\"Rachel
Rachel Medina poses after landing from a hot air balloon at the hot air balloon rally in Cortez in August 2023. (Courtesy of Rachel Medina)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cOn the 28th, at our last meeting, there will be cake and there will be an event at the workshop,\u201d Medina said. \u201cI\u2019ll start the meeting, we swear in the new council members, and then I peace out.\u201d<\/p>\n

While leaving City Hall \u2013 a place she frequented for nine years \u2013 may feel strange, Medina said she at least gets to keep her gavel.<\/p>\n

avanderveen@the-journal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

can\u2019t entirely tear herself away from city government, but she\u2019ll try<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13414"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18964,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13414\/revisions\/18964"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13414"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}