Clarisa Osborn, Dennis Spruell and Carly Wolf emerged as the top vote-getters in Cortez’s municipal election Tuesday night, leading a field of 11 candidates as voters filled five City Council seats and approved three of four proposed changes to the City Charter.
The city sent out nearly 6,000 ballots and received 1,780. That turnout exceeded the roughly 1,400 ballots returned in the 2024 municipal election.
Osborn, Spruell and Wolf will serve four-year terms, while Kathleen Swope and Claire West, who finished fourth and fifth, will serve two-year terms. All five council members will take office April 28.
The four ballot questions proposed various changes to the City Charter, including grammar corrections, clarifications to City Council meeting attendance rules and changes to the process for setting council member compensation.
The city posted the first unofficial results on the doors of City Hall, 123 E. Roger Smith Ave., at 8:40 p.m. Official results will be released April 16, giving voters eight days to correct any ballot mistakes flagged by election judges.
At a long mahogany table in a quiet conference room at City Hall, several candidates and their family members bowed their heads or scrolled on their phones as they awaited preliminary results Tuesday.
As the silence stretched on, conversation and laughter broke out among the candidates and their supporters.
At 8:40 p.m., City Clerk Danielle Wells brought out the board with the vote counts, prompting congratulations from family members as some disappointed candidates quietly left.
Osborn led the field with 1,028 votes, followed by Spruell with 997 and Wolf with 905.
Osborn focused her campaign on city maintenance, citing the need for water line repairs and parks and recreation refurbishing projects as top priorities. During the candidate forum, she pointed to Durango’s small business accelerator program as a potential model for Cortez’s economic development efforts.
“I know there’s a lot of big projects in the pipeline,” Osborn said Wednesday in an interview with The Journal, adding that City Manager Drew Sanders had called her earlier to lay out several city projects in the works. “I’m just ready to get my hands dirty and start the work.”
She said she was shocked at the results, given that most of her campaigning focused on candidate forums and that, unlike many candidates, she did not distribute yard signs throughout the city.
“I’m excited about the other council members that were elected and I think we have a great team,” Osborn said.
| 1. Clarisa Osborn (four-year term) | 1,028 votes |
| 2. Dennis Spruell (four-year term) | 997 votes |
| 3. Carly Wolf (four-year term) | 905 votes |
| 4. Kathleen Swope (two-year term) | 857 votes |
| 5. Claire West (two-year term) | 826 votes |
| 6. Bruce Burkett | 757 votes |
| 7. Travis Shepherd | 691 votes |
| 8. Randy Vialpando | 627 votes |
| 9. James McGinley | 239 votes |
| 10. Charles P. Borchini Jr. | 235 votes |
| 11. Michael Earl Bischoff AKA “Gandolf” | 133 votes |
The newly elected council members are all women save Spruell, who ran for re-election and emphasized the experience he brings to a council that will include many first-time members.
“The women sure outdid the men this time,” Spruell said in an interview with The Journal, adding that the addition of four first-time City Council members will bring both challenges and opportunity. “I like the people, I like the personalities, and I think we can work together.”
In his appeal to voters, he highlighted progress made during his tenure in uncovering fraud and tax overcollection and said he intends to continue the precedents set by the current council.
“I just look forward to serving the community for another four years,” Spruell said.
Wolf, whose lavender campaign signs featuring her namesake animal lined Montezuma Avenue, ran as a local business owner advocating for sustainable city revenue, affordable housing and child care. She is a co-owner of Doobie Sisters and stressed the importance of supporting small businesses to strengthen the local economy.
Swope earned 857 votes, while West received 826.
Swope described herself as an avid watcher of City Council meetings who wanted a deeper understanding of the city from inside local government. A retired teacher, she said she admires the level of citizen engagement shown through local protests and wants to see more activities for retired residents.
“I feel really honored to have the support of my community, and I really appreciate everybody who voted for me, and not just for me, but for everyone who was elected because I think they put together a really strong council,” Swope said in an interview with The Journal.
She said she was excited to jump right in and get community input from Cortez residents on steps the council can take to further enhance the city.
“I just feel like Cortez has lots of growth potential, and I want this to be the place where we all want to live, that Cortez is the place that we all want to call home,” Swope said. “I really appreciate more than anything that people voted. It’s such a privilege and a responsibility, and I think it’s important that you have a voice in what happens in your community.”
West emphasized her experience managing opioid settlement funds in Colorado as relevant to City Council budget decisions during her campaign. She expressed support for expanding tourism and Cortez’s lodgers tax to bolster the local economy.
Question 1, which corrected grammar, replaced masculine pronouns with gender-neutral language and clarified several charter processes, passed by a margin of 471 votes, 1,080 for and 609 against.
Question 2, which allows City Council to set compensation for future council members, clarifies that council members may receive compensation for remote attendance and reinforces the required waiting period before a former council member can be hired by the city, passed by 263 votes, 972 for and 709 against.
Question 3, which clarifies permissible locations for City Council meetings and affirms the validity of electronic participation by council members, passed by 385 votes, 1,035 for and 650 against.
Question 4, which clarified when municipal elections are held and would have authorized the city to exercise home rule authority over City Council term limits, failed by 181 votes, 738 for and 919 against.
avanderveen@the-journal.com
