Lake Havasu City permit technician describes busy counter work and customer-service focus

Kristen Warren, a permit technician in the Development Services Department's Building Division for Lake Havasu City, said she spends her days processing building permits, answering phones and helping people at the counter, and juggling the many interruptions that come with the job.

Warren introduced herself on the city's "Faces of Havasu" segment and said she and her husband moved to Lake Havasu City in 2022 after decades of spending time on the river in Southern California. "My name is Kristen Warren, and I am a permit technician for the development services department in the building division," she said.

Warren said she was hired in January 2024. Drawing on prior municipal employment and earlier work in real estate and mortgage, she obtained certification after being hired and said the position has taught her a great deal about the building division. "I've been in real estate and mortgage prior to this, so it's kind of... second nature maybe," she said.

Describing the day-to-day work, Warren said the office is busy and staff "wear a lot of hats." "The phones ring in. We got folks at the counter. We've got emails coming in," she said. "Customer service is number 1 at the list," Warren added, calling the work "chaos coordination" that requires frequent stopping and restarting of tasks.

Asked what professional skill she would instantly master, Warren said she would learn coding to create more streamlined systems: "I always have ideas about, you know, what can work better, and I think coding would really be a cool skill to have." For a personal skill, she said she would like to learn race-car driving.

Host Jerry Braccamani thanked Warren for her work helping residents and contractors with building opportunities; Warren closed by thanking the program for the chance to talk about herself and the department. "Until next time, these are the faces of Havasu," she said.