By HAP FRY 

 FORT COLLINS – If ever there was a time for Emily Francis to flinch at work, it may have come while working as a prep cook at the Back Porch Cafe. 

One of her primary responsibilities at the Fort Collins eatery was to debone the turkeys.  

The only problem with the assignment was that she was a vegetarian at the time. 

“I really wanted to go into the restaurant business,” Francis said. “My dad knew someone who worked there, so he ended up giving me a job. I think my dad told him just to give me the worst job possible, so I’d never get into that industry.” 

Turns out, the plan backfired – at least temporarily.  

Francis hung tough, deboned those turkeys, and even used the job as a springboard into a 12-year career in the restaurant industry that culminated in her running a bakery while working on her Master’s Degree from Portland State University.  

“It was house-milled, woodfired, heirloom grade – you know, all the Portland things,” Francis said, chuckling. “I loved that job.” 

Fast forward to the here and now, and Francis doesn’t look too far removed from Portlandia while she sits in a hip Old Town Fort Collins coffee shop, The Neighbor, during a recent Friday afternoon.  

But make no mistake about it, Francis resides in a galaxy far, far away from her days deboning turkeys and baking elaborate, heady breads. 

She is 40 years old and will be seated as the new Mayor of Fort Collins on Jan. 13. 

“I think we’re really going to have to look at how we attract livable wage jobs here, and how we attract the kinds of businesses that meet Fort Collins’ values and ideals,” said Emily Francis, incoming mayor of Fort Collins. Photo: Hap Fry

Though she is young, she is experienced.  

Francis has been on the city council since 2019 and has been Fort Collins’ Mayor pro tem since 2021.   

While she is passionate, she is equally resilient.  

Francis is the second youngest of six daughters. 

Those are good qualities to have for the position because Francis will need to rely on those traits and more as the city’s mayor.  

She knows Fort Collins is on the cusp of embarking on a rapid transformation and is in the midst of an ideological tug-of-war of sorts as to what will make the city more viable moving forward. 

“We are in a transition from a large town to a small city,” Francis said. “There’s a lot of uncertainty about how we are going to grow. There’s pressure on competing resources and competing priorities, which is natural as we’re going through this transition.”  

Her primary objective as newly elected mayor is to make the growing community more affordable and housing more accessible. 

How that can be done remains to be seen.  

The Colorado Multiple Listing Service for realtors – IRES MLS – indicated that there were 78 single-family homes sold here in September with a median price of $632,500.  

“I think affordability and housing are a clear directive of what we (City Council) really need to focus on,” Francis said. “The city has a very complex development review process that is very lengthy and adds a lot of cost and uncertainty from development to development. We’ve got to streamline the process and make it more predictable.”  

Although Francis voted to support a minimum wage increase in 2023 – it was voted down 4-3 – she has a bigger-picture perspective of what the city (and state) need to do to be economically viable in the long run.   

A Colorado Chamber of Commerce report in December of 2024 depicted Colorado as the sixth most regulated state in the nation.  

The report noted that 45% of the state’s nearly 200,000 regulations are excessive or duplicative, further complicating matters in the business sphere and permit process. 

“I think we’re really going to have to look at how we attract livable wage jobs here, and how we attract the kinds of businesses that meet Fort Collins’ values and ideals,” Francis said. “Other places provide incentives and tax breaks to attract business. That’s something Fort Collins traditionally doesn’t do. I’m not saying we do these things, but I think we need to start looking at if we really want to attract business – what are the levers we can pull as a city government, and what are the things we want to try.”  

Growing up in Fort Collins  

Though Francis had stints living in Alaska, Portland, and Durango, Fort Collins is her home. 

She was born and raised in the city she now represents as mayor. She attended Fort Collins High School and received her undergraduate degree from Colorado State University. 

Throughout her mayoral campaign, Francis said that her family had experienced challenges making ends meet – many of which involved housing.  

“We jumped around a lot,” Francis said. “We struggled financially and experienced housing instability. There was a lot of uncertainty, which you don’t realize as a child, but it stays with you. Those experiences have a lot to do with why housing has been my main focus since 2019.” 

Francis has had a front-row seat in watching Fort Collins nearly double in size from 87,000 residents in 1990 to almost 170,000 in 2020.  

Despite the accelerated growth, Francis is quick to say that Fort Collins continues to have a strong sense of community.  

Still, she contends that by not adequately addressing affordability and housing, it’s leading to ripple effects that are being overlooked.  

She says that people who serve the community, such as teachers, police officers and medical personnel, are unable to afford to live in Fort Collins.  

Francis also believes that the lack of employment opportunities, or livable wage-paying jobs, is not enabling the city to retain much of its talent. 

“It’s affecting the health of our community,” she said. “I think that’s a big piece that we’re not necessarily talking about. When you look at school closures, those are anchors and communities. Those have huge impacts on who’s going to move here and really long-term implications for Fort Collins.”          

Entering the political sphere 

Francis’s foray into the world of politics didn’t begin with some grand epiphany or romanticism inspired by eighth-grade civics class. 

No, it began when she became the partnership and grants director for The Family Center/La Familia in Fort Collins in 2018.  

Many of her responsibilities centered on advocating for mobile home park residents – several of whom came from countries where it was not safe to engage with the government.  

In essence, Francis was the go-between for the residents and the city and Larimer County officials.  

“They wanted to know that their mobile home parks were preserved and protected, so basically housing stability,” Francis said. “At the time, redevelopment of mobile home parks was prevalent and could happen at any time. They had a heavy investment. They wanted to know what their options were at the policy level, so I worked a lot with city council and county commissioners.” 

One of the council members Francis made an early impression on was Kristin Stephens, then the Fort Collins District 4 representative. 

“I learned a lot from her about housing and advocating for housing,” said Stephens, who is now the District 2 Larimer County Commissioner. “Honestly, she was really helping people with just some basic quality-of-life issues. When she joined the city council, she really hit the ground running. She really wanted to work on housing, and that’s why we started working on the housing plan a lot – because of her energy around that issue.”    

Changing of the guard 

If ever there was a time for Emily Francis to feel intimidated at work, it came in 2019 when she was elected to represent District 6 in Fort Collins as a council member.  

Then 34, Francis was the youngest person elected to Fort Collins City Council since the 1980s and also the first millennial elected. 

The 2019 City Council also signified a changing of the guard – women members became a e4-3 majority. The 2017 council, by comparison, was comprised of six men and one woman. 

“It was a big moment for our city to be majority female on council, but it was difficult, as a young female, to come into office in that environment,” Francis said of 2019. “I had to spend way more time proving myself – proving that I knew what I was talking about and that I was capable of making decisions. I had to come way more prepared than other people, but I think it also made me a better councilmember in the end.”  

The landscape and makeup of Fort Collins City Council has undergone a complete overhaul since 2107, as evidenced by the 2025 lineup which has six females, including outgoing Mayor Jeni Arndt, and one male. 

Francis will remain a councilmember as mayor when she takes her new position in January, but her District 6 seat will be vacated and filled in 2026. There will be some fresh faces in 2026, with new council members in Districts 1, 3, 5 and 6.   

“I think it’s always nice to have new people and a new perspective on council,” Francis said. “There is a steep learning curve with serving on city council. I mean, there’s no onboarding for how you govern.” 

Kristin Stephens isn’t worried about Francis stepping into the spotlight as the city’s mayor. 

“She’s a doer,” Stephens said. “She’s a person who really understands issues at the fundamental level. I think, with her representing maybe a younger demographic, it is really great for people to see themselves in local government. I can’t wait to see what she does.” 

Back at The Neighbor coffee shop, Francis looks relaxed, poised and confident.  

She’s eager to lead and take on the responsibilities and some of the unknowns that come with the position.  

Though perhaps Francis is most assured because she knows she won’t flinch or be intimidated in her new role.  

“I think being comfortable with a little uncertainty and not knowing how things might totally work out helps prepare you for being in leadership at this level,” Francis said. “I think it helps you with being able to adapt and also have empathy and understanding about different people and their lives and experiences.”