Cortez Journal publisher Suzy Meyer has announced her decision to retire sometime this summer.

Meyer joined the Cortez Newspapers staff as a part-time reporter on Sept. 11, 1989. She became editor of the Mancos Times and then of the Montezuma Valley Journal and Cortez Sentinel, and was promoted to general manager and then publisher of the Cortez Journal.

She announced her decision to the Journal staff on Tuesday.

Meyer will remain at the paper until her successor is hired and then intends to dedicate more time and energy to her pastorate at Rico Community Church, a position she has held for 3½ years.

“It’s time to rearrange my priorities,” she said.

Also at the top of the list is spending more time with her husband, Marc, and her mother, and to visit her grown children more frequently. Then, she said, “I want to do a lot of hiking and some traveling. I have a backlog of books to read, and a few I want to write.”

Meyer won’t be completely absent from the newspaper. She plans to write a regular column and participate in some larger projects. She will continue to volunteer with various community organizations.

“I’ve appreciated the opportunities I’ve been given first by the Brown family and then by the Ballantines,” she said. “I’ve had a wonderful career here for nearly 24 years.

“Now it’s time to do something else.”