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 – after announcing her resignation in January – she does not have.
Medina became Cortez’s 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‑time job requires travel and the list of mayoral duties kept growing.
“I didn't want to walk away early, but I just felt like it was the right thing to do,” Medina said “I couldn't provide the same level of commitment that I had over the last six years.”
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.
“There was just a lot of heated community divide for a long time,” Medina said.
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’s budget online.
“That was a huge accomplishment – getting the city financially on track, transparent (and) building back that public trust,” Medina said.
She is also proud the city paid off millions of dollars in water‑project debt, updated the land‑use code, improved staff wages, completed citywide fiber‑internet installation and campaigned for Denver Air Connection to take over flights into the municipal airport.
“I just feel like the city’s been in a really good place,” Medina said.
On top of being more fiscally sound, she said relationships with Montezuma County, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and other municipalities have improved through “board to board” meetings between Cortez and neighboring governments.
However, as Medina prepares to leave office, the city still faces significant challenges. Public testimony on the South Softball Complex at the last City Council meeting highlighted deferred maintenance and inadequate funding in the Parks and Recreation Department.
“I think folks who run for City Council tend to want to build a legacy and add on to everything we have,” Medina said. “Because that's so much more fun than just maintaining what we already have been committed to.”
She noted that housing and employment remain some of the city’s top challenges.
“As 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,” Medina said. She said that question remains for the City Council in its next era.
City Council members who worked alongside her see an uncertain future ahead as Medina returns to life as a regular citizen.
“She loves the city and she’s really given it her all,” council member Lydia DeHaven said. “She really is good at taking in opposing views and coming up with compromises.”
DeHaven lauded Medina’s work on the new land‑use 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’s departure.
“There's such a large turnover in officials,” DeHaven said. “I think it's going to leave a big hole to not have Rachel there.”
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.
“That is going to be the biggest issue – the fact that we are going to be a rookie council,” Spruell said. “It’s going to be tough without Rachel and other council members who had a lot of time on council.”
While Medina is ready for the tantalizing prospect of more free time, she still can’t commit to permanently stepping away. She’ll take a year off, she said, while considering a state‑level campaign or a run for county commissioner.
“My commitment to this community is definitely not over with,” Medina said.
After a few more City Council sessions, Medina will say goodbye at the end of April – if only temporarily.
“On the 28th, at our last meeting, there will be cake and there will be an event at the workshop,” Medina said. “I'll start the meeting, we swear in the new council members, and then I peace out.”
While leaving City Hall – a place she frequented for nine years – may feel strange, Medina said she at least gets to keep her gavel.
avanderveen@the-journal.com
