Kristian Flett has been in charge at the Houston post office since last April and was named the facility’s postmaster last August, and she has now been officially installed in the position by the U.S. Postal Service.
A Salem native, Flett lives near Licking with her husband, Ted Hogue (Flett said she retained her maiden name). She began her career with the USPS in 2001 as a carrier in St. James. After 10 years there, she spent time at the Salem, Rolla and Fort Leonard Wood post offices, working in a supervisor capacity for a while at all three locations.
Flett – who goes by “Kristie” – said she passed up on the chance to be postmaster at Rolla and Salem.
“I’m really fond of Houston,” she said. “I’ve worked in a lot of offices and I have had my eye on this office for years. I’ll be glad to travel here for the rest of my career. It’s a good town with good people.”
“I’m thrilled to be here, and I plan to finish my career here; I’ve got about 10 more years. I should be around here for a while.”
The staff in Houston is top-notch, Flett said.
“I have great clerks and great carriers,” she said. “I couldn’t ask for a better bunch.”
But Flett said she has plans to perhaps make a few cosmetic changes to Houston’s post office.
“I would like to some updates to the outside of the building,” she said. “With regard to the color scheme, this is how it looked years ago and I guess people asked that it be put back to that. But I would kind of like to make it a little more modern and updated.
“For me, it’s about the brand and the image for us.”
Flett was installed by managers of post office operations Robert Deen and Angela Bye in a ceremony last Friday afternoon in the community room at the Lone Star Annex on Main Street downtown.
“The big focus for us at the postal service is the customers,” Flett said. “We provide customer service – that’s what we do. When I came here, there were a few customers who weren’t very happy with us, and I’m working to get that turned around.”
The phone number at the Houston post office is 417-967-2736.
“If any customers have any issues, please feel free to call me,” Flett said. “I’d really like to resolve things at the local level.”
Houston post office leaders (since 1953)
• Carl W. McKinney, acting postmaster (Aug. 31, 1953)
• Carl W. McKinney, postmaster (July 13, 1955)
• Billy E. Beasley, officer in charge (Dec. 29, 1972)
• Billy E. Beasley, postmaster (April 28, 1973)
• Charlotte A. Seeman, officer in charge (Dec. 31, 1987)
• Denny S. Rex-Stevens, postmaster (April 23, 1988)
• Phyllis M. Keeney, postmaster (May 29, 1993)
• Robert E. Ferree, officer in charge (Nov. 21, 1997)
• David I. Bryson, officer in charge (Jan. 5, 1998)
• Michael W. Beasley, postmaster (March 28, 1998)
• Kristian R. Flett, officer in charge (April 27, 2017)
• Kristian R. Flett, postmaster (Aug. 5, 2017)