Name: Matt Fries
City of residence: Severance
Occupation: Mayor of Severance, co-owner of Smart Document Management
What brought you to Severance?
After living in Fort Collins for 50 years—I grew up there, graduated from Fort Collins High School and have operated my own businesses there for years—my wife and I decided we were getting old enough that we wanted to move somewhere where our horses could live with us. When we lived in Fort Collins, we boarded them. So, we came over to Severance and fell in love with the town. We’ve been here since 2017.
Tell us about your business.
My wife and I have our business in Fort Collins, called Smart Document Management. We are a document storage and shredding company located at Lemay and Riverside. We’ve been in the business for about 23 years.
What do you love most about Severance?
Geographically, the thing that’s most appealing to me is that it’s right in the heart of everything. It’s almost an equal distance to Fort Collins and Greeley—and of course, we’ve got a great neighbor in Windsor. The characteristics of the town that I like the most are probably the people. We’ve been a growing community for the last 10 years or so, and the people are wonderful. They want to keep its small-town character.
How long have you been the mayor?
I was elected on Sept. 7, 2021, so going on four years.
What are your main responsibilities as mayor?
The main responsibility of the mayor, compared to other council members, is that I run our council meetings. That’s the most important function. We each have one vote, so there’s no more power or control, but there certainly is a leadership component in making sure the meetings are run as promptly and efficiently as possible. Probably the most important thing is making sure you’re running them fairly so that everyone has an opportunity for their voice to be heard. We have public hearings on land use issues and that type of thing, so I make sure those hearings are run fairly for the applicant and that the citizens get a voice. We hear from our staff as well.
A day in the life of the mayor in Severance is usually nothing too exciting. It usually starts with returning phone calls and emails. Checking the local news outlets to see what’s happening in the area is very typical. I don’t have an office at town hall, but I’m there three or four times a week, either on the phone or directly in contact with our town management. In this form of government, not unlike Fort Collins, the town manager runs the day-to-day operations, and I do my best to be there as a resource for them, but I stay out of their way. They’re the experts, so I offer opinions and so forth as necessary. It can be a very easy day, or it can be a 12-14 hour day taking calls, depending on whether there’s a crisis or something of that nature.
What’s your favorite thing about serving as mayor?
My favorite thing is the opportunity to get into schools and visit with young people. I do some guest speaking at the high school and middle school in their history classes. Every year, the third graders come to town hall and do a complete tour, where they get to meet the different departments and myself and the council. Helping them understand at a young age how local government works is very important. I think many people are focused on national politics, and there are certainly some similarities, but there are also some stark differences. One of those is that we expect and invite people to participate, get involved in the meetings and give their comments, so getting to work with young kids and help them understand that is awesome.
What is the most challenging part of the job?
The most challenging part of the job is probably having to tell a citizen no. If they’ve got a great idea, or something that really fits well, even in my opinion, there are a lot of obstacles to get some of the simplest things done. That’s the unfortunate way government works. In our case, state and federal regulations obviously play a major role. It’s always a bad day for me if somebody says, “Hey, can we do this?” and I have to tell them, “No, we can’t.” We turn that into an opportunity and try to figure out what we can do, but it’s always disappointing to have to deliver that bad news.
What are your hopes and dreams for the future of this town?
I’ve been here since 2017, and we’ve seen a lot of residential growth. That’s a good thing. I like to describe Severance as being the real affordable housing option in Northern Colorado. We stay very close to the lowest, and I’m proud of that in terms of giving an opportunity, especially for young families, to own their home. The challenge that we have right now, and what my hope was when I ran for mayor, is to try to get our commercial and business sector to catch up to the number of homes that we’ve built. We’re working on that, and we’ve had some obstacles along the way. But offering a few more services that can be done right here in town, rather than having to go to another town or city, would be very beneficial and more convenient for residents. We’re looking at plans on how we could potentially redevelop what we call our “old town,” and we’ve got other areas that have been dedicated for commercial use. We’re working through the challenges of all that for the infrastructure to get to those areas so that we can do more building. Then we’re out, literally pounding the pavement, trying to attract new businesses to town, as well as helping existing businesses expand if they wish to.
If you had a friend or family member visiting for the weekend, what are some things you would take them to do?
We have three outstanding restaurants in Severance. One of those is very historic: Bruce’s Bar, which is right in our old town. It’s been here for decades. They’re famous for their rocky mountain oysters, and they have great sandwiches and steaks, so I would encourage them to go there. We also have two Mexican restaurants, which seems odd for such a small town, but they’re two very different flavors and two very different atmospheres, so I would certainly encourage them to participate in that, as well as visit one of our many parks.
As far as greater Northern Colorado, as I mentioned, I grew up in Fort Collins, and I always encourage people to visit Old Town at least once. There’s an awful lot to do there. Fort Collins is still a wonderful community, and there’s a lot of it that I miss. Part of that is the variety of things that you can do there, from entertainment to shopping to dining. We’re also close to Greeley, which is a wonderful community. There are a lot of unique things there, and in Loveland and Windsor. In a very short drive, you can get a pretty good taste of the different cultures. I think what’s cool about Northern Colorado is that we have something in common in the region, and yet each community has its own character and flavor. Getting a taste of each of those is something I would encourage anybody to do.
What advice do you have for young people stepping into a leadership role?
First, never forget the principles that got you where you are today. I think oftentimes you get promoted, or maybe you’re elected to public office, and it’s very easy to start going down a rabbit hole that is not necessarily you. Bring yourself back to what got you to where you are.
The second thing that’s very important is that no matter how old you get, or how old you are compared to where you were a few years ago, never stop learning. There are a variety of ways to do that, so choose what works best for you. Always be willing to expand your mind and educate yourself in different aspects of what’s going on in your life.
The last thing that’s equally as important—I’m not necessarily rating these—is that relationships are the key to success. In all the things I’ve done over the years, and especially as mayor, I’ve made very good friends whose working relationships and personal relationships are truly what adds up to wealth, in my opinion. It’s amazing how those relationships will fade in and out of your life, and you call back on them for help when you’re at your next challenge. I would encourage people to continually be looking for those and cherish them and cultivate them and keep them for as long as you can.
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