Page 6 - Chicagoland Cooperator Winter 2020

6 THE CHICAGOLAND COOPERATOR —WINTER 2020 CHICAGOCOOPERATOR.COM she “hadn’t picked up a vacuum in 50 years— and wasn’t about to start now!” Another re- ported that he had to set up support groups lic transportation to get to their jobs, which is Focusing on solid customer service, mutual for the staff in his building because the stress scary, and then when they got to work were patience, and de-escalating tense exchanges of traveling to and from the building and the expected to do their jobs as if nothing had when they occur can go a long way toward nervous behavior of the residents were caus- ing pervasive, chronic feelings of fear and de- spair. The truth is that never before had prop- erty managers and their client communities business,” says Marsha Nolan, director of as- faced a crisis of this type, presenting itself in sociations for Advocate Property Manage- this way. It seemed part science fiction, part ment, also located in Chicago. “We’ve been every day. And it wasn’t my wheel, the wheel war story—except the enemy wasn’t an alien able to continue our day-to-day operations, I built over my career. It was the Governor’s invasion (at least, not exactly) or a foreign oc- cupying army. It was an invisible, incurable home from mid-March through May. We had we had to keep everyone safe—employees, microbe that often brought suffering, and the proper technology in place to make that staff, and residents. That’s my responsibility as could easily bring death. The zombie apoca- lypse had arrived. Pandemonium “I’m no longer managing an apartment we do have COVID protocols in place, we are awaited vaccine are distributed across the building,” says Daniel Wollman, CEO of conducting business as usual and have been country, we’re finally seeing a light at the end Gumley Haft, a residential property manage- ment firm located in New York City. “Instead, I’m managing a pandemic. Once it hit, con- struction projects ceased. We closed service protests spread in the late spring over the po- entrances. We required new elevator proce- dures: one family or two individuals in the This added another layer of complexity and tell how soon—if ever—we’ll be able to return cab at a time. We severely limited access for concern to the existing crisis. “We had looting to some place of normalcy, but until then, deliveries, guests, domestic help, etc. It was a on Madison Avenue,” says Wollman, “and we multifamily managers will keep soldiering on, stark contrast to day-to-day functions before had anticipation with respect to the \[presiden- the pandemic when so much was happen- ing all the time—deliveries, renovations, etc. double up staff in the lobby and lock up the Building ops severely changed.” What Wollman and his staff did in their till the morning due to the protests in some offices and with their time when not on site neighborhoods, and we needed extra fire ex- at client properties changed, too. “We needed tinguishers as well as other items during the PPE, constantly,” he says. “It was hard to get protests. Some residents were nervous and initially. We had to convert our office confer- ence room into a storage area. We also had to needed anyone to shoot someone, and I said send many of our office employees to work so; it was not always well taken. Our buildings from home, which took time to get used to as were locked. What was the armed guard go- well. In addition, we needed to make sure that ing to do? In the end, we didn’t hire guards, everyone on our various building staffs was but did have them on standby. Happily, it all as safe as possible. What if someone tested worked out.” positive, resident or staff? We had to develop a procedure.” Jim Stoller, president and CEO of The uncharted territory during the first months Building Group located in Chicago, reports of the pandemic, adrift in rough seas with- a similar experience. “This is unprecedented out a map. “The majority of issues we dealt in its effects,” he says of the pandemic. “From with were people’s emotions,” says Stoller. “A staffing, to money, to psychology. You would friend of mine who is a psychiatrist told me learn something about the virus, and then two this is very common. People are under much days later it’s updated and changed. These dan- gerous unknowns required management to had problems. We did a lot of Zoom calls with be on full alert all the time. A lot of what we do our building staff and maintenance people to in management is managing people. Building keep them updated on protocols and changes systems are easy—but all of a sudden, we are in policies, as well as how to deal with people. dealing with emotional issues, health issues, And we did it so they could give each other with both residents and staff being affected. emotional support. Every day became a sup- Many residents have felt that staff safety is not port group for all types of staff.” as important as their own. That was shocking for me. One person said they want someone important right now,” says Nolan. “Let’s face wiping the building’s front door handle every it, 2020 has been a whirlwind of a year, with time someone touches it. In some properties, many people working from home, many residents wanted the spa and pool open, with people jobless, children learning for the first staff to clean it constantly.” Of course, that time via Zoom and other online platforms... type of request became untenable once state it’s changed the lives of many. Our routines and local authorities ordered these facilities have been disturbed, which makes people un- closed. “We stopped all construction and remod- eling,” adds Stoller. “Service providers and clients might have more of an edgy tone to building staff were under a lot of stress, both their emails or phone calls, it’s not necessarily personally and professionally. Many ride pub- changed. It should be stated that most em- ployees did an outstanding job despite the equation. circumstances.” “In Illinois we are considered an essential implement patience and collaboration, and though the entire company did work from wheel, or Department of Health’s wheel. But possible. I did hear from several vendors early I view it. So, I have to figure out how to do on that we were the only company that con- tinued to pay our invoices on time. Although throughout the pandemic.” National Protests Complicate Things In addition to the pandemic, nationwide demic remains ongoing—and continues to lice killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. erties, their staffs, and themselves. Time will tial\] election. We told our buildings we would as we all do our best to hold it together. front doors. We couldn’t put out the garbage even asked for armed guards. I didn’t think we Expanding Skills Managers frequently found themselves in greater stress—especially those who already “Good customer service skills are very comfortable, irritable at times, and fearful for the future. We have to understand that when us, but just the current state of the country.” reducing stress for everyone on all sides of the Wollman says he’s learned to value and uses an apt metaphor: “We had to adapt to an ever-changing wheel without reinventing it that—how do we do that.” As the very first doses of the desperately of a very long, dark tunnel. But even with the ray of hope that vaccinations offer, the pan- impact the way managers manage their prop- supporting their staff and client communities n AJ Sidransky is a staff writer/reporter for The Chicagoland Cooperator, and a published novelist. MANAGEMENT... continued from page 1 on smaller, self-managed communities. The Chiagoland Cooperator spoke with sev- eral self-managed community leaders to understand how the global health crisis has changed the way they live, and how they manage themselves. A Condo Grows in Brooklyn Benjamin Weinstein is the vice president of a 10-unit condominium building located on Lorimer Street in the Williamsburg sec- tion of Brooklyn, New York. The five-story elevator property was built in 2018 and is 100 percent sold. Weinstein explains that when the asso- ciation was originally formed, they had out- side management. However, with minimal reserves and the residents and board both very conscious of spending and keeping an eye on money, the community reconsidered their situation. “Having off-site manage- ment was expensive,” says Weinstein, “and we weren’t getting the quality and attention we felt we paid for. We had the experience we needed in the building; one owner was a real estate guy, another a financial consul- tant. We felt confident that they could cover the basics. Two members are compensated with forgiveness of some common charges. SELF-MANAGEMENT... continued from page 1 Economically and in terms of skills, it made sense for us. We started to self-manage a year ago, and it’s made life easier in many respects. We can deal with everything right away, in real time, without waiting for the manager to respond. It didn’t make sense to continue outsourcing the management func- tion—so we eliminated the middleman.” The association had an issue a month ago with the building’s old-style intercom system. They switched to Carson, a com- pany that specializes in providing services to small, non-staffed buildings. “That overhaul was seamless,” says Weinstein, “because we dealt with them directly—no middleman in the form of a manager. Nothing was lost in communication or translation.” In terms of COVID-19 and how it’s af- fected their property and its management, Weinstein says, “We’ve had to make some adjustments. There’s more foot traffic, as ev- eryone is home and everything is getting de- livered, so we’re getting the building cleaned twice as much as before. We also are seeing more repairs resulting from more wear-and- tear. Early on we had issues with members not wearing masks or sanitizing properly, but we got it under control quickly and there haven’t been any issues since. In terms of payments and collections, everything was done online remotely even before the pan- demic, so that hasn’t changed. Seventy-five percent of our members pay via direct pay- ment online, and 25% slip a check under the treasurer’s door. He makes deposits and pay- ments online, through his phone. There isn’t any physical component to our cash flow items at all.” Weinstein says the board does all their meetings on the Zoom video con- ferencing platform. New England Strong High View condos, located on Cape Cod in Sandwich, Massachusetts, is a 96-unit condominium community. The units are located in four three-level garden apart- ment style buildings that were constructed in phases between 1974 and 1982. The prop- erty is not age-restricted, and features a club- house. Ursula Price is High View’s treasurer, and has served as such since 1993. She says that when the property converted to condomin- ium ownership, it had a contracted manage- ment company. The association changed companies several times, but the residents (several of whom were professionals in ar- chitecture, engineering, or real estate them- selves) were unhappy with the management companies—mostly because of deferred maintenance. Residents with relevant, ap- plicable experience took over the board and ended the management relationship. Since then, says Price, “Self-management has served us well. The dynamic of the property has changed. With the pandemic, people are home much more, and they no- tice things” like maintenance projects left too long without being addressed. “This has caused some conflict. Younger owners want continued on page 8