{"id":14027,"date":"2026-01-12T18:46:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T01:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/shane-prentice-launches-candidacy-for-county-commissioner\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:42:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:42:43","slug":"shane-prentice-launches-candidacy-for-county-commissioner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/shane-prentice-launches-candidacy-for-county-commissioner\/","title":{"rendered":"Shane Prentice launches candidacy for county commissioner"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Shane
Shane Prentice said his experience serving a church congregation would translate well with the duties of an office holder. (Courtesy of Shane Prentice)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Shane Prentice, a rancher and local pastor, announced his candidacy for the Montezuma County Commission, becoming the sixth candidate in the race for next fall\u2019s open seat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to maintain the freedoms and the way of life of Montezuma County,\u201d Prentice said in an interview with The Journal. \u201cOur commissioners have worked hard to ensure that we aren\u2019t burdened by laws and regulations. I would like to continue that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prentice said he believes current commissioners have done a good job overall but wants to change how county government engages the public. He said he\u2019s running to improve public involvement and protect quality of life in the county.<\/p>\n

Up for grabs in next November\u2019s election is commissioner Jim Candelaria\u2019s District 1 seat. Commissioners Kent Lindsay and Gerald Koppenhafer will remain in office. So far, Republicans Brett Likes, Bonnie Anderson, Diane Fox-Spratlen and Gerald \u201cJerry\u201d Whited have announced their candidacies, as well as Rebecca Busic of the Montezuma County Democrats. Undersheriff Tyson Cox has also announced a run for sheriff and is currently unopposed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to see a little more representative government,\u201d Prentice said when asked what he wants changed.<\/p>\n

He added he wants residents to have \u201ca little better chance to make comment, give insight, ask questions and be involved in some of the processes that take place.\u201d He said regular meetings should allow more public comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to see the public allowed to comment and ask questions and raise issues in real time concerning the business meeting agenda,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

With a background in farming and ranching, Prentice has been in ministry for nine years and serves as pastor of MesaTrails Cowboy Church in Mancos. He described public service goals as similar to his ministry work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a life of service,\u201d he said. \u201cI meet with people through the church on a daily basis. I counsel everything from grief to marriage to personal accountability. I think that gives me a unique view of Montezuma County\u2019s needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prentice has said in campaign materials that government should operate more like a church. In practice, he said, this means focusing on serving residents rather than operating like a business.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernment is supposed to be a service,\u201d he said. \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t really operate as a business or a bank.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among his top priorities, he said he wants to see the sheriff\u2019s department better funded, citing the sheriff\u2019s end-of-year report and what he described as rising crime and drug trafficking.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a big county,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a hard area to police.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prentice opposes the proposed Dolores River National Conservation Area designation. He also noted concern over unfunded state mandates, saying he believes state regulations negatively impact the county and he would push back against them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to see the way of life eroded here, especially from regulations and laws that are pushed down from the state level that are unfunded,\u201d Prentice said.<\/p>\n

Prentice described himself as a proven leader, pointing to his experience running a nonprofit organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve run a 501(c)(3) for nine years,\u201d he said. \u201cI set budgets. I allocate resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he considers himself fiscally responsible and opposes any new county sales tax, saying it would harm agriculture and expand government.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am for small government,\u201d Prentice said. \u201cI am a conservative Christian. Farming and ranching is the backbone of Montezuma County, and water is our lifeblood. I will work very hard to preserve both.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prentice frames commissioner run around service, protecting freedoms<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14028,"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-14027","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\/14027","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=14027"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19289,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14027\/revisions\/19289"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14027"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=14027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}