Diane Fox-Spratlen, a former Cortez Police Department school resource officer under the late Chief Roy Lane, is the latest candidate to enter the Montezuma County commissioner race.
Fox-Spratlen recently announced her candidacy for a seat on the Montezuma County Board of Commissioners.
A former police officer and current victim/witness specialist for the 22nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office, Fox-Spratlen is the third candidate to declare, following Brett Likes and Bonnie Anderson.
“I’m a public servant at heart and that’s what I was made to do,” she said.
She told The Journal in mid-November that she plans to run for the District 1 seat held by Jim Candelaria.
Candelaria’s two-term limit ends in November 2026. He was elected in 2018, and reelected in 2022.
The other two commissioners remain in office.
District 2 Commissioner Kent Lindsay was reelected in 2024 after a 2020 term, having served from 1997 to 2005. District 3 Commissioner Gerald Koppenhafer was elected in 2024 after serving two terms from 2004 to 2012.
Fox-Spratlen’s background combines law enforcement, community service and advocacy.
She joined the Cortez Police Department in 1993 and served for two decades, mostly as a school resource officer. She also served on the Montezuma-Cortez RE-1 school board and the Cortez Fire Protection District board.
She said her time in law enforcement underscored the need for unity among departments and community involvement.
“Collaboration in a small town is so key, especially when crisis happens,” she said.
Fox-Spratlen served under the late Chief Roy Lane, recognized by Gov. Jared Polis as Colorado’s longest-serving police chief.
After leaving the Cortez department, she worked several jobs, including a brief stint in the corporate world and security roles in Las Vegas. While there, she also worked for a domestic violence hotline.
“As a live phone advocate, I was just taking call after call about domestic violence pretty much eight hours a day. And I loved that work.”
Back in Cortez, she spent about a year with Renew, a local domestic violence resource center. In March, she joined the 22nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office as a victim/witness specialist.
“It’s good to be able to help guide those folks through that criminal justice system, because it can be pretty scary.”
Life after law enforcement is an adjustment, she said, calling it “a process of reinventing yourself and figuring out who you are outside of law enforcement.”
She said her next chapter has focused on public service, modeled by her father, Don Davis, a former Rio Blanco County commissioner.
“He taught me this: that there’s nothing better that you can do in this life than to serve something bigger than yourself.”
If elected, she said her priority would be advocating for resources for Montezuma County, which she called often overlooked.
“It’s imperative that we stay engaged at the state level and we fight for what we need down here, or you’re not going to get it.”
She recalled speaking with a state representative while on the school board who mistakenly thought Cortez was in New Mexico.
She said engagement with state officials remains essential “so that they understand what our needs are down here.”
“Having somebody that is a strong leader that can take that voice and go back to the Capitol, and fight for what needs to happen in Montezuma County; I know that I can do that.”
