 Good afternoon and welcome to another episode of Condo Insider on Think Tech Hawaii. And my name is Jane Sugimura and I'm your host for the show today. And I wanted to start a series of shows about resources for condominiums and because there are lots of resources out there. And so I wanna start with a pretty unique one. And this involves resident managers and site managers. It's a group called Mo'ili'ili Resident Managers Association or MIRMA, M-R-M-A. And it was started by a guy named Mike Vettable and he was a property manager in Mo'ili'ili over 20 years ago. And I know I got a call during one of his early meetings to come out and give a legislative update. And we used to meet at his condominium and it started off with just the property managers from the neighborhood. Now, before the COVID hit, MIRMA was meeting, they were having their monthly meetings at the Waikiki Yacht Club. And sometimes, I mean, they'd have almost a hundred guys there, men and women, sorry, men and women, property managers, site managers, all networking, learning from each other, sharing information. And it's a really dynamic and active group. And so I wanted to highlight some of their activities. So that's why I wanted to talk about them today. So anyway, this is a property management, a property managers group, and they have a website. And I think we can show it on the screen now. And so I think, can we show the name of the website? How do you get to it? www.MIRMA, it's M-R-M-A.org. And so I know that they're having some meetings virtually, but what they do is they have police officers from their areas show up and they give status reports and the police are there to take questions and answer concerns that property managers may have. And what they do basically is they share information. And if you're a site manager or resident manager has a problem, I mean, rather than try to resolve it himself, I mean, there's this huge network. And I don't know the membership, but I know I've been to their meetings and they have a lot of people who show up. And they're involved with vendors in the community, like the people who want your business. If you join this organization and you go to their luncheon meetings, you will meet the vendors. I mean, the people who do the waterproofing and the painting and the structural engineers and cleaning services. And the landscapers. And so, and you can talk to your site manager can talk to these counterparts in other buildings and compare more stories about who's good and who's bad. And that's really important. That's really important for associations because it's not like you're flying blind. I mean, you're sharing information. And these vendors know, they know that this organization is connected and that they network with each other. And they know that if they can establish a foothold in this organization, that their reputation and work is going to spread to other associations. And this is really important because a site manager or a resident manager, they can't know everything. And although many of them take classes and they get certifications from Community Associations Institute and from IGRAM and which is another resource organization for site managers and resident managers. I mean, it's nice to be able to pick up a phone and call somebody who's in this group and say, hey, I got a swimming pool problem. So can you refer me to somebody who can help me out with this particular problem I'm having? And so this type of network is useful and it probably will minimize some of the problems that would occur is if you had to go out and hire somebody blind without any background. And the membership, the membership is all property managers, property managers and site managers. And they get together and they discuss problems. And I know that they've been really active in things, let me see. One of the things that they were really active in Murma was the establishment of a bulky item pickup program in Honolulu. And those of you who remember in the city, the city and county about a year ago, they did a whole revamp. And Murma was very instrumental in doing this because you had a whole lot of property managers coming together and saying, look, these are the issues we're having. And the city officials, some of the city officials end up at the Murma meetings. And so the Murma members worked with the city and county department of environmental services to set up some parameters. And those parameters were vetted at the city. And I think, I know we went through a trial period or maybe a year ago where we were dealing with new rules and regulations. And it started on the east side of the island, I think in Hawaii Kai. And they were trying it out before it, and after they worked out the kinks, they applied those rules to other parts of the island. But I think the key thing about the bulky item pickups is that you have to call in now. No more, they don't set it up so that on a Wednesday, they're on Pearl City. So now you have to call in because I'm not sure why that is, but it probably is because it was inefficient for the city to do that. So now they're doing it on an on-call basis. And then that way they can get the trucks out there. And you have to tell them whether it's small stuff or big stuff. If it's big stuff and if it's metal, like a refrigerator, because they have special trucks that come out just for the big metal stuff. And so if you've got a couch, they can send maybe like a flatbed. But if it's a metal refrigerator or a stove or something like that, they have to send out a different truck with different people so that they could deal with that type of item, the bulky item pickups. And one of the other things that they've done, they were involved in new schools, zone signs in and around Cuyahua Elementary School and they increased patrolling by HPD, particularly in the side streets in the community where our children play and our elderly walk to and from buildings. And there's a monthly sponsorship program by businesses and vendors who attend the murmur meetings to make presentation of their products and services and to meet other members of murmur. Now this is very, very important because I know with property managers, they get inundated with materials. And you get flyers and you get solicitations about different products. But at the murmur meetings, you actually can have the vendors will show up, they'll show up with their products, they'll show up, they'll give demonstrations, they will answer questions. And this is one of the plus factors, I guess, being a member because you get to talk to the vendors, see their products, ask the questions and decide whether or not you want to use their product. And this would be products that you would use in your building, it could be cleaning products that you would use in your building or maybe for your landscaping, it would be fertilizer, it might even be different plants that you can plant in your area depending on whether you get a lot of rain or whether it's real dry. And so these are things that are the day-to-day business of site managers. And this is what also makes your buildings adds value to your buildings. If you have a site manager who is 100% committed to making your condominium a better place to live and work and at the same time, improving the value of it so that for those people who are selling their units, it means that you get a better price. And so it's really important that site managers and resident managers have these resources. And one of the resources is that you provide them with an opportunity for them to meet vendors and to meet other property managers and site managers and to meet other people in the industry. So that they can, if they have a particular problem that they can't handle, that they have the resources and they're not gonna have to hunt around for them. I mean, they can just look at the membership or just contact somebody in the group who may have had a problem. And so this is one of the benefits. And I understand that this is not something where you pay dues, you can join. If you're a property manager, you can join. And on the website, there is a source where you can contact them and join the organization and become a part of this and reap the benefits. Reap the benefits and your participation is also gonna benefit your condominium because you're gonna bring the knowledge and the networking and all of the resources that you get from being part of this organization, you're gonna bring that back home. And it's gonna benefit the condominium where you live or work. And another thing that they do, besides sharing information about products, the way I got involved, I used to go and give the legislative update. And so every year I would go and tell them what the legislature had done or the city and county. And a murmur was very active in the fire safety ordinance that was passed after the Marco Polo fire. And so their input was very valuable in forming the ordinance. And the one thing, I guess you would call it an impediment, but we had a mayor who really wanted to install sprinklers. And those of us who live in condominiums, we know that retrofitting on older building is really expensive. It's really expensive and it's kind of ugly. I mean, because the building's already built. And so if you're gonna put in pipes, you're gonna have to put in pipes outside of the concrete, which means you're gonna have pipes in your unit. And so it's not very pretty. And so it's not aesthetically pleasing, but there is a safety factor. And so I guess you have to strike a balance and say, well, nice, but at least it's safer. And so, but anyway, our mayor back then wanted sprinklers and there were some condominium people, including people in Murma, were very active and vocal and went to the city council and say, hey, wait, you gotta give us a choice. We know we cannot stop the sprinklers, but you gotta give us a choice because we have people who live in the condominiums who don't want sprinklers. They don't wanna pay for them. They don't think they need them. And so you need to give us a choice. And that's how come we have now a life safety evaluation and it's not perfect and we're still struggling trying to figure out how to work with it. We're just starting to finish with the life safety evaluations and we're all beginning to see what has to be done and how expensive it's all going to be. And, but you know, so compliance and you know, so if you're a member of Murma, you're gonna hear from the experts and you're gonna hear from government officials about new laws and what their, well, new laws that they're planning to implement and the people at Murma have been active in voicing their support or their, not disapproval, but concerned. And I think that's a good thing because you know, a lot of times government officials, I mean, they really don't know how condominiums work. They don't seem to appreciate the fact that, you know, if they pass laws, the people who live in the condominiums end up paying for the, you know, paying for the implementation. And just like, you know, with the fire safety ordinance, those of us who don't wanna do sprinklers have to pay to install some expensive equipment. And yes, it is something that we didn't have to do, but now we have to do because of the ordinance. And so Murma is a forum where government officials will go to talk to them about new legislation, new regulations to try to get their support or find out what concerns them because they know that, you know, the implementation is gonna be very difficult. And, you know, once the law is passed, then, you know, Murma is one of the groups that, you know, they look to for, you know, a feedback like, how is it working? And is there something we can change? And, you know, laws and regulations that are passed by the government, they're not setting concrete. And I've been around long enough to know that if something's not working, you need to go to your government official and say, hey, you know, you guys pass this law and it's just, you know, very burdensome. And so can you tweak it or can you change it? Can you repeal it? Can you do, you know, something, you know, so that it's not so, you know, it's not so burdensome for those of us who have to comply with it. And so that's another thing that, you know, Murma does. It helps in the implementation of, I mean, it's one of the groups that the government goes to before they decide they're going to pass an ordinance or a bill because they kind of want feedback. And also they want to get reelected. And they know that if they get us mad enough that, you know, those things are not going to happen. And so, so, so Murma is one of those groups, you know, that are involved in implementation of new laws. And, you know, and also with this, I was hoping I would have somebody from Murma on our program today because I was interested in finding out how they dealt with the challenges from the COVID pandemic. And I know that with a lot of associations, there was some confusion as to, you know, what could you do? I mean, some associations were shutting down the pool because, you know, it was a gathering place. And the decision to do that was basically all the board of directors and the site manager. And so the site manager had input, usually the board would go to the site manager and say, hey, can we do this? And the site manager would have to hunt and look and see if any of the government of emergency proclamations affected in amenities that belong to associations. And, you know, I heard stories about, oh, you guys are private entities, you're not subject to the government regulations. That's not true. We are still part of the state of Hawaii sitting in County of Honolulu. So if they say no gathering or you can't, you can only have six people. I mean, that applies to condominiums as well. But, and the boards, you know, are also very concerned about the spread of this, you know, virus. I mean, you don't want a building that's, you know, that's just, you know, contagious with this disease because that's just not a healthy place, you know, for all these people who live. And so it was a real challenge, I think, you know, to condominium site managers and resident managers. And if you're building survives the panic, the pandemic 18 months now and in a relatively healthy situation, I would, you know, give my kudos to your site manager because I'm pretty sure they had to work really hard to make sure that, you know, that the emergency orders were complied with. And now we're dealing with issues of vaccine mandates and whether or not employees and contractors will have to comply with vaccine mandates that the board may adopt because the board is an employer. They employ the staff and they can set parameters just like any other employer like the state of Hawaii says that, you know, if you don't have a vaccine, you can't work for the state or you have to have a negative test result. And so associations can do the same. So the challenges, you know, continue to be there and, you know, for those associations who are interested, you might want, and if your site manager or resident manager is not a member, you might want to encourage them to join Merma. And so, you know, look at the website, it's www.mrma, go to the website and, you know, see what you can do to become a member of this organization. I've known them, I knew Mike Venable 20 years ago and I really have to give him credit for starting this organization. And who knew back then that over 20 years later, it would be as vigorous and as influential as it is today. And so that concludes my first episode about resources for condominiums. And my next episode, when I will be speaking, when I do the show, we're gonna have the real estate commission and they've got a terrific website and they've got videos now. And, you know, so please tune into that program. It's gonna be September 30th and we're gonna have a condominium specialist who will be telling us all about all of their programs. And that's a one shop deal. You go to their website and everything is there. So thank you very much for joining me today. And please make sure that you join us next week for another episode of Conown Cider and join us on September 30th for the real estate commission and a continuation of my shows on condominium resources. Thank you, Mahalo.