Christina Rinderle, elected as Durango’s youngest female mayor at age 33, recently left office, after eight years of facing contentious issues such as vacation rentals and secondary housing units.

At her final meeting, Mayor Dick White teared up as he described the friendships forged on the board despite not always agreeing.

He praised Rinderle’s infectious, positive attitude and her gracious manner.

“You are the most universally liked person I have ever met in my life. I have been searching for someone who hates you, and I am still searching,” Councilor Keith Brant joked.

Rinderle counts finding compromise on difficult issues, such as regulating vacation rentals, among the her highest accomplishments on council.

“When I look at the national level of politics and how divisive they are, I wanted to be a uniter,” she said.

When she took office, she did have to combat some perceptions that she was young girl who didn’t know what she was talking about, she said.

“I had to be even more prepared than any of my other colleagues,” she said.

She used humor to help disarm situations when people she was talking with took an offensive position.

Many have asked Rinderle, a botanist and researcher turned real estate brokerage owner, if she plans to run for another elected office. But the answer, for now, is no.

She plans to focus on her business, Durango Land and Homes, her family and friends.

But she plans to remain in engaged as a Trails 2000 board member, community chairwoman of the KSUT campaign to raise money for a new building, and as an investor in La Plata Economic Development Alliance. She also plans to help Democrat Mike Johnston with his campaign for governor.

She is hesitant to pursue state office because it would require spending almost half the year in Denver, she said.

During her council tenure, the city invested in open space while land was cheap, started single stream recycling, capped vacation rentals in some neighbors, wrote rules to allow and govern marijuana and legalized secondary dwelling units in some neighborhoods. She said she is proud of those actions.

She said she regrets not being able to dedicate more time to the job. She estimates she spent 25 hours a week on city issues, but she could have spent all day, every day meeting with community members and working on goals.

A champion of infill, Rinderle would like to see secondary apartments legalized throughout Durango, and parking requirements reduced because, as she reminded audiences throughout her tenure, if downtown was developed to today’s standards every other building would be a parking lot.

She believes that services, such as Uber and Lyft, will help make the dense development possible, and the city should think about regulations that will be applicable in the future.

The challenges that she left behind for the new councilors are lengthy. Among the most complicated are panhandling and homelessness – issues that incoming Councilor Melissa Youssef has made her top priority.

Rinderle believes they are issues the entire community must address.

“These are human beings with their lives and their personal story that we don’t know about, and we don’t know what brought them to that place in their life. And there has to be some well of compassion,” she said.

She believes there are different tiers of need among the homeless community and those who panhandle. For some, it’s a lifestyle choice, others are in need because of unfortunate circumstances and a third group has mental health and addiction issues.

Rinderle said a greater police presence on the streets and supportive housing could address part of the problem.

To help those with mental health and addiction problems, the city needs to build a close partnership with Axis Health Systems, she said.

While she may be stepping away from office, Rinderle still has big dreams for Durango’s future. She envisions a City Hall that could also be used as a conference center, better broadband service across town, separated bike lanes and an underpass beneath Camino del Rio.

One of the items on her list, the underpass, has passionate backers, who have advocated for it for years.

Durango’s motivated residents, who show up for meetings and volunteer for boards, are what sets Durango apart, from so many cities who struggle to find volunteers, she said.

“I think that is a huge part of what made me so proud to serve this community – the people here,” she said.

mshinn@durangoherald.com