Scott Rendleman

Scott Rendleman, a retired civil trial lawyer, is making his first run for elected office by entering the race for Boulder City Council in 2026. He said during an early September interview that part of his reason for running was a post-retirement desire to increase his involvement in local public service, but he got some extra spark from remembrance of his brother.

“The weekend after Mark (former Council member Mark Wallach) resigned, I went to my brother’s funeral. He had been a county commissioner for over 15 years. And at his funeral, they talked about his legacy of governance. And I felt like that was inspirational, that I needed to jump in and try to do something like this, to carry this forward. And so that’s kind of the mechanics of how I got here,” said Rendleman.

Mini-Bio

Rendleman was born in Carbondale, Illinois, and grew up in Edwardsville, Illinois, not far from St. Louis, Missouri. After high school, he attended Illinois State University, earning his bachelor’s degrees in political science and English. He then went to law school at the University of Illinois, graduating with his law degree and getting married in the same year.

Rendleman’s wife earned a MBA, and the couple moved to Chicago. Scott Rendleman practiced law at the firm of Pretzel and Stoeffer, where he eventually “made partner,” and he said both he and his wife were enjoying their work. However, the couple had a son, and then a daughter three years later, and came to a realization that with “the juggling of career work and the grind of the city, we knew that this wasn’t why we became a family.”

They had visited Boulder and believed it would be a good place to raise a family, so they moved here in 2011. Scott Rendleman took a job with a law firm in Denver, and said he worked with four different firms in Denver until recently retiring. He was named an alternate to the City of Boulder’s Police Oversight Panel, and now he’s running for Council.

His campaign website is https://rendleman4boulder.com/

On The Issues

Q – Has Directly Elected Mayor Been a Good Experience?

According to Rendleman, it has been a good experience because it gave “the people” a voice in who they’d prefer to lead the city.

Q – Contentious Council Meetings?

In 2025, there were some Council meetings where things got heated as meeting attendees demonstrated against the situation in Gaza. Rendleman said he thought the situation was handled as well as possible, but it took a little time to adjust because coming from a court background, a judge might have held some meeting attendees in contempt of court for their behavior. While he supports the First Amendment, he said behavior crossed the line if it led to intimidation, and some people felt intimidated enough that they didn’t want to attend Council meetings. “That’s where it needed to change,” he said, and the Council did make meeting policy changes that Rendleman supported.

Q – Boulder’s Economic Status and Ideas?

Rendleman said “I’m an optimist,” and he believes there are positive attributes to Boulder’s economy. He pointed to the coming arrival of the Sundance Film Festival as something that will not only be good for the economy, but will also contribute to Boulder’s status as a center for the arts. He added that Boulder has a unique characteristic in that the city does have a “social conscience about those who don’t have the same financial situation, and I’m proud to live here.” While answering this question, Rendleman touched on fire mitigation and the Downtown Development Authority, both of which will be discussed below.

Q – Downtown Development Authority?

According to Rendleman, he was disappointed that the DDA didn’t go forward this year – it lost on a 4-4 Council tie – and he would have voted for it had he been on Council at the time. But the city won’t have the DDA revenue to work with, and Rendleman said there might be opportunities for public-private partnerships to help plan and finance improvements in the Downtown and/or University Hill business districts. He said improvements might not just help the current business owner, but also the next owners of given properties, and he supports efforts that would make the business districts more attractive – both as places to do business and as aesthetically pleasing areas in which to spend time.

Q – Is Boulder Ready for Sundance?

Rendleman said it’s important to remember that the city has a 10-year commitment with Sundance, and “I think we need to make sure that we are constantly learning – what did we do well, and what did we do wrong?” He touched on a possible discrepancy between the famous and/or wealthy people or artists who might attend, and the independent artists or attendees who are of more modern means. He mentioned that some of the big-dollar rental rates he had heard of for short-term units were “not attractive,” though of course not all units will be rented for excessive rates. “I think that there’s an opportunity for the city to serve more as a hub for those who need the most help, the filmmakers and those who support them,” said Rendleman.

Q – Boulder’s Status on Public Safety?

As an alternate to the Police Oversight Panel, Rendleman said he couldn’t comment on specific issues, but said the panel does hear from “people from historically excluded communities who don’t feel safe, and that is something that concerns me.” He said he personally feels safe in Boulder, but believes the city needs to give attention to how it handles issues including the unhoused population who might camp near Boulder Creek and might use drugs. He spoke highly of Boulder’s Police Department, saying it’s part of what makes Boulder able to be a great town. As a parent, he said it’s part of what makes him concerned about safety near Boulder High School, and added that he “frames a lot of issues” around safety for local students.

Q – Public Safety FROM Public Safety?

Rendleman said part of his concern around the use of automated cameras has to do with the potential for data mining. “Has there been data mining to just find out where Boulder citizens are going, and when they’re going?” he asked. He said there are possibilities that camera data might help save people from serious problems like human trafficking. While he acknowledged that the overall expectation of privacy in Boulder and elsewhere is somewhat diminished, since so many people have phones or other devices that can be tracked, but he believes people shouldn’t be followed unless there is reasonable suspicion of a crime.

Q – Should Council Engage in International Issues?

While Rendleman mentioned that there might be times when Council might want to comment on international issues, in general he doesn’t believe Council is the right forum for those issues. “I think we need to be careful about how much distraction we get away from Boulder city issues,” he said.

Q – Should Boulder Move Toward a Greater Reliance on Property Tax?

Rendleman noted that city sales tax revenue collection has been flat or declining in recent years, so the city might need to look toward other sources to maintain services. However, the city is running a $400 million bond measure this year that would be funded through property tax, and he said he doesn’t believe “the community has been brought along” and really shown why the tax is justified. He did note that the projects mentioned in the bond measure seem to be “pretty good projects,” but he believes the city needs to be ready with another plan(s) in case the 2026 bond measure doesn’t pass.

Q – Does Boulder Need to Continue Pushing For More Housing?

According to Rendleman, he isn’t seeing a lot of current debate around if the city needs more housing, but the type and location of additional housing is a different story. He said he does not believe that housing density automatically leads to affordability, but more density in town and specifically along transit corridors would provide opportunity for more housing and living options. He’s interested in looking at the city’s Area III parcel near 28th and Jay as an opportunity to start new neighborhoods from scratch, with possibilities for a mix of middle-income and permanently affordable housing.

Q – Boulder’s Status on Managing Homelessness?

The city recently received a report from Clutch Consulting about ways to deal with challenges around homelessness in Boulder, and Rendleman said the city’s moving toward implementation of its recommendations but doesn’t have the funding for full implementation at this time. He noted that some local residents are concerned about the “visible” aspects of homelessness, including camping near Boulder Creek, but added that the city is “passionate” about how it treats its unhoused population and this reflects is values of compassion for disadvantaged people. He also spoke positively about Boulder’s recent efforts to figure out if a person coming to Boulder without connections to this city might have connections elsewhere, like family or friends, and try to get them to a location where they might have support from other people.

Q – Climate Action?

Rendleman spoke primarily about wildfire issues while answering this question, in part because he thinks wildfire is “the most existential threat Boulder faces.” He noted that there are discussions around whether the city should mandate certain actions in the Wildland-Urban Interface, such as home hardening, and he would support using city funds to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire if they are attainable in the budget. He said he believes carbon emission reduction programs are important, but the city would experience significant climate setbacks if an event like the Marshall Fire happens in Boulder.

Q – Rec Centers and Deferred Maintenance?

With rec centers among a top campaign issue in Boulder this year, Rendleman said he believes “each family that uses the rec centers wonders why they’re in the condition that they are.” The City of Boulder has more than a half-billion-dollar budget, and he said the city should devote “at least substantial amounts of the budget” toward conditions at the rec center. “I think that rec centers do more than just provide recreation. They are opportunities for each resident here to connect with each other, and that’s an important role –  we should fund that,” he said.

2026 Ballot Measures

  • City of Boulder $400 Million Bond Measure: Rendleman doesn’t support this specific measure, but might support a future bond package, depending on details. He said he supports addressing the Public Safety building mentioned in the 2026 measure, but perhaps not at a $170 million price tag.
  • City of Boulder Residential Vacancy Tax: He supports it, noting that Sundance might create demand for second homes that might be vacant part of the year.
  • Boulder County Childcare Tax: Yes.
  • City of Boulder Debt Limit Increase: Rendleman said he didn’t have a problem increasing the city’s authority to borrow, but this one increases the debt limit from along the lines of $150 million to $1.5 billion. He questioned why the city seems “stuck on 3%” of actual property value, and suggested there might be more incremental steps possible.
  • City of Boulder Firefighter Collective Bargaining: Yes.
  • Boulder County Increase 3 to 5 Commissioners: He supports it, saying it would bring more voices to County government.