 and welcome to the show. I'm your host today, Cheryl Franklin, and in lieu of the current affairs in our world today, we're going to discuss safety precautions when living in a condo community. Our guest today is Mike Terman, a successful general manager for condo communities. Mike will discuss these safety precautions for condo living. Aloha, Mike, and welcome to the show. Hi, Cheryl. It's good to see you again. It's been a while, and I appreciate the invitation here today. Absolutely, and you're right. It has been a while. We'll have to fix that going forward. Why don't you tell the viewership a little bit about yourself? Well, everybody knows my name now. My name is Mike. I've been in Hawaii for about 30 years. I came over in the military in 1989. Absolutely fell in love with Hawaii and knew that it was going to be home. Shortly after getting out of the military in the early 90s, I got lucky and found myself with a very fortunate opportunity in my first small building down in Kakaako. 75 units, one man show, all senior citizens, and just found that it was an industry at that time that was still quite new, and I succeeded well into it. I developed a great network of people back then, the communities early on were still new to the industry, but already making a name for themselves. And here I am nearly 30 years later doing this. I love property management. You and I have worked together in the past. I got lucky and married a beautiful local lady, have three kids, and honestly, I can't see doing anything else. I'll do this as long as I can walk around and as long as a property will have me. This is definitely the trade, the industry that has become my passion. Yeah, yeah, great. Now that sounds wonderful. You're right. We did work together on a couple of projects, and I have a great deal of respect for you, and I think you're awesome. And I want to thank you for taking the time to come on the show. Oh, it's my pleasure. Thank you, thank you. So let's dive right in. I mean, there's a lot going on. I know we're kind of, most of us are kind of, you know, hunkering down inside, but I think essential workers are kind of out and about. But more importantly, when you live in a condo community, we're kind of on the top of each other per se. And there's a way to kind of mitigate through that adhering to the guidelines of, you know, all the kind of separating and things like that and washing your hands. So you are on the front line in that respect in this industry. So why don't we kind of talk about a little bit, one of the key elements in all of this communication? Absolutely, Cheryl, effective communications, I think starts with the relationship that you have with your community, recognizing all the different types of communities that are out there, ranging from the low income apartment communities to the high end upscale, kakaako properties, blue collar, white collar. Effective communications is really going to be strongly contingent on the type of relationship you have with your community. What type of interactions do you have with them directly on a face-to-face basis? How often are you seeing them on a regular basis? What types of communications do you have in place? Do you use bulletin boards? Do you use email blasts? Newsletters? Websites? Mailings? What type of communication works best for your community? And that's really going to be contingent on the type of population you have. I myself manage a high rise in the university, Kapiolani area, a lot of blue collar, a lot of white collar and some higher end resident. They're all very akamai and we have a strong, very personal connection and it's easy for me to call all of my resident's friends. So I base my communications around that type of personal effect and they like the email blasts. I've got close to 400 emails that receive my weekly report to keep them abreast of what's going on in our community. COVID-19 being dominant right now. Oh yeah, sure, sure. And that was going to lead to my next question, is how often we should communicate? I know with everyone being home and hunkering in, it's kind of like they want to stay informed outside of the media, obviously that's your first line of communication from our government officials. But right here at home, the communication within the community is equally just as important. It really is. And of course, I personally, I don't know if anybody's ever actually experienced this kind of a situation before. We've had tsunamis and earthquakes and it's easy to develop a procedural policy to respond to those types of events. But this is really something new in the country, in the world. So I imagine that a lot of general managers now are reviewing their procedures on how to respond to this. For us right now, any breaking news, we get out to our community immediately as it pertains to COVID-19. Things are changing so rapidly in the country, in the world, and right here in our state that immediate communication, keeping the residents apprised, I believe it helps mitigate fears. It helps reduce panic. When the resident comes by my office, I'm considered an essential worker. They're taking that moment to stop by and see if there's anything new. They're asking about my health, and I'm asking about theirs, but that immediate awareness of any changes is so vital to help reduce the panic in our building, then in our community, our neighborhood, and ultimately our state. It's keeping everybody informed. And unfortunately, a lot of the news, there's so much politics involved. People don't know what to trust, so look to that person that they trust personally to give them the truth. That's not to say that falsehoods are going out, but that relationship that you've developed, they trust you. My residents, I believe, trust me, and if I'm going to tell them something, I better be 100% accurate, and if I don't feel I can be, I'm going to tell them I really don't have an answer on that subject. Yeah, I think that's key. Right, there's so much information out there, so much politics and things like that, but the priority is safety, and you can build from that just establishing or having a relationship of trust with the community and with your association. So I think trust, that's something we don't have enough of in the world today, so it's always good when you have it right there at home. That's correct. Yeah, so also, have you had to make many operational adjustments? Because like you said, you're considered an essential worker. Not everyone is, and you can probably touch on that a little bit, but being an essential worker means you're there, but you probably had to make some operational adjustments as well. That's correct. One of the first things that I did, and I think this kind of segues between communications and operational adjustments, I've had to speak to my team. I have a small team, we're not a big building, but I do have a small team, and I'm communicating with them on a regular basis so that they stay educated what our expectations are for them within the building. Up until recently, we had a very successful preventive maintenance program during this situation during the pandemic. Our focus has become primarily custodial and janitorial. We are sweeping through the building on a regular basis as often as possible just to make sure that we're hitting all those key components, using disinfectants, keeping elevator buttons wiped down, things of that nature. We've had to close our pool with people in self-isolation or self-quarantine. We fear that they might want to gather down at the pool because they want to get out of their homes, and unfortunately that can result in gatherings of large groups. So we've stopped in mailed parcels for our residents because there's too much personal contact between the carriers, my staff, the residents. So now residents don't have the luxury of looking to us to receive their packages and parcels when they are traveling or away until we can get through this. So the operational adjustments for us really focusing in on what's critical to maintain the COVID virus and that's custodial and janitorial services. And once I feel we've gotten through that on a very strong basis, I myself, I'm letting my staff return home early so that they can attend to their own personal needs. Not everybody has that luxury, but I stay on site throughout the business day for communications and I send my team home. Wow, wow, that's a great practice. They're very lucky to have you at the helm there. As you can tell, I just a moment ago touched my face and something that we should not do. We definitely have a new normal that we're trying to kind of adhere to and things are changing and we're doing our best to do things right and be conscientious about making sure we maintain what is its six feet distance and things like that. And I applaud you. I think sanitation of course and disinfectants and wiping down common areas is very important because let's face it if you live in a building that has an elevator, that's kind of a tight quarter. So everybody has to do their part in trying to mitigate or flatten the spread of COVID-19. I think that's also a very good point to bring up as it pertains to amenities and because even where I live, the kids are going nuts and they want to go out in the courtyard here and they want to play and they want to get out but that constitutes a gathering and so it's different and who's there to kind of monitor and keep people aware of all of these guidelines. So you're on the front lines there and one of the few that need to be commended for getting out there and helping to keep order in the midst of all this. A good plan as well to kind of not accept those packages but until this is over we're just going to have to realize that we don't have a lot of those things that we took for granted and actually we appreciate it. I'd be remiss if I didn't express how Akamai my residents have been and I say Mai, it's a very personal thing. We take possession, we take ownership of our buildings, I think any competent manager would so I called them my residents but I'm really impressed with how Akamai my residents have been leading up to where we're at today and where we could possibly be in the coming days. They've been very patient, they've been very understanding. Not every hardship has been warmly received but it's not without understanding. They know that our best interest is their best interest. One of the things that we are struggling with right now are homeowners who were financially invested in large-scale renovation projects. So without a home some of these vendors have been classified as essential so they could make the home's habit a little bit again. And now we're struggling with noise issues on top of people that are trying to work from home. It's a real balancing act and we don't have all of the answers and again being honest about not even having an answer for them or a solution for them at least lets them know we're hearing them we're aware of it and we're working to get everybody through this as equitably as possible. Yeah, and I think that's very important and that's kind of the deal where we live Akamai and Aloha so we'll get through this and we'll get through it together and we're going to take a moment for a break and this is a good place for a break and we'll come right back and continue the conversation with Mike. Thank you. Let's hope you're doing it. I've been on this team for 22 years and we were fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championships. My show is based on my book also titled Beyond the Lines and it's about leadership creating a superior culture of excellence and finding greatness. I feature a wide range of amazing guests who share valuable insights about how going beyond the lines leads to success in everything you do in life. I'm looking forward to you joining me every Monday at 11 a.m. Aloha. Aloha and welcome back to the Kondo Insider show. Thank you for returning and joining or if you're just joining us. Welcome. We're talking about Kondo living during this era of COVID-19 and how to navigate through that when you live in a Kondo association or community. Before we went to the break we were talking about some of the sacrifices that we've had to make in a community that relates to scheduling contractors and who's deemed essential employees and why. I'd like for you to touch on Mike how do you navigate between the two when it comes to scheduled maintenance or contractors or projects that were in the pipeline to perform and things of that nature because I imagine all of the projects that were scheduled are not deemed emergency, if you will, or essential. So if you could touch on that a little bit. Absolutely. We do have a few units within our building that were in renovations when this hit and as a result of those renovations some of our residents, typically homeowners they're displaced because of these renovations. So in communications with the president and our account executive we've determined that allowing those homeowners to continue their renovations is considered essential. They need a home, they need workable plumbing systems electrical systems. So we're allowing that type of work to continue but looking out to the future coming days, weeks, possibly months we have let it be known to our residents that plumbing shutdowns, power outages for routine repairs we're going to be declining them. If there's not an immediate threat to life or property then those types of repairs are just going to have to sit on the wayside. If somebody says they need a valve replaced we're not going to permit that replacement unless we have an active leak and it's confirmed by myself or one of my team members because we can't have anybody taking advantage of the operations just to get something done that they think is important to them but isn't necessarily a high priority for the community as a whole. Yeah, yeah a lot to navigate there and then I imagine you know there are going to be instances where you know some homeowners I won't say they may not be happy about that because I believe during this time everybody understands we all get it and so we understand that these things have to come into play because it's the state of current affairs where we live right now. That's correct and ultimately the plumbing won't be shut down unless you know my staff and I facilitate the shutdown so their scheduling work that's going to require our assistance to facilitate it they'll really just be spinning their wheels they may express their upset their ire to myself or the board but ultimately we have what is really best for the community as a whole in unprecedented times. Yeah, yeah well you know I think like you said these times are unprecedented so we all have to do our part it sounds like you have a very strong operational system that you're putting in place that's evolving I imagine every day or every week as you know the guidelines change every week in terms of you know the mandate and controlling this operations as far as your staff and personnel I applaud you for giving them the opportunity as well to tend to their families and things like that so it's quite a balancing act It really is and I think everything can quickly point back to our very first topic is communication this situation is so fluid and updates are coming from the federal, state, city and county levels on such a rapid basis updates of numbers updates of changes and guidelines our personal lives are affected even as managers our children are now out of school for another month and we have to manage that at home while we're still trying to provide the very best and quality of services for our residents within the community so it really ties everything together you know years ago we used to talk about what we do Gerald as building managers and general managers and there's been this move we're community managers now anybody can manage a building but being able to really develop a relationship and a strong rapport with the people that live in that building we're community managers now and I feel so lucky to have such a great community that understands the balance that I'm trying to keep at home the balance I'm trying to keep for my staff so that they can manage their own personal needs and of course their well-being as my residents and homeowners that they're just so wonderful and so cooperative and extreme the patient that the bad news when it comes they know it wouldn't be coming it wasn't factual and correct and that respect that they've given me that trust that they've given me is all because we've developed that communications confidence early on since I've been there now three years at Skyrise oh nice nice yeah I you know I think that's wonderful you know I know of instances being in the industry as long as I have and and all the connections that I have I know that it's been challenging for a number of homeowner associations and I also know it was a challenge initially because as you know this is the time of year when a lot of associations have annual meetings and things like that and they weren't sure how or to cancel the meeting you know to be in here with their governing documents and state statutes like that but like you said this is unprecedented so I think you know as long as you adhere to the guidelines and trying to keep with your governing documents I think it was last week I want to say Richard Emory and Steve Glanstein were on the show and you can go back and revisit the show of last Thursday and they gave some very good information on how to cancel and reconvene annual meetings and things like that because these are things that have come up you know in the midst of COVID-19 during a very cyclical time for condo associations where they generally have their annual meetings and things like that did you run into any instances where you had to cancel meetings and give notice and post new notices and things like that or did everybody just kind of figure that out in conjunction with that well it's funny you mentioned it Steve Glanstein is our parliamentarian for our property I've known he and Richard Emory for a great many years we actually have an annual meeting scheduled for this coming week the 31st and with the notices and that have gone out it left us in a quandary so we reached out to legal we reached out to Steve to find out how within our governing documents can we stay legal and as it turns out we've got communication going out to the homeowners as well as posted an email blasted to our homeowners we we still have to have a meeting technically but we don't even have a meeting room because our reserve reserved site was cancelled because it was a DOE cafeteria so we're going to have our president board member and myself on site outside the fence and basically we're going to go through the process the formal process calling the meeting to order making everybody that might be in attendance aware of what's happening and adjourn the meeting to another date which we are also working right now to identify but meeting locations are scarce to come by because nobody knows when they're going to be able to be available for large groups again right right so like everything is on hold I imagine Steve's getting a lot of phone calls I imagine it must be very very trying for him but that's why he gets paid the big dollars and he's so specialized in his trade yeah he's great he's great I'll have to remind him of that and counsel too but at the end of the day I think a lot's going to change a lot's going to change in terms of compliance with everything because this is unprecedented and I think if anybody challenges anything during a time like this you know how to handle these things in terms of a pandemic they didn't write that into the legislation when they were planning these things so it may change in the future but for now we just have to like you said listen to parliamentarians your property managers your counsel and communicate and just keep everybody informed until we can return to normal and we don't even know what that's going to look like when it happens that's such a great statement we don't know what the end result is going to be you know everybody's struggling with the economy and the owners that have to work from home and so many that aren't working at all so where are we going to be at in a week to weeks a month three months this time next year society could be so different because of this and one of the funny things I recognized is several years ago in another community a large community the staff and I felt it was appropriate to put hand sanitizers in the lobbies and that was met with some by people no names mentioned fair enough we removed them and now you can't find a hand sanitizing station to save your life they're on back order I was fortunate to get one but I'd like to have at least a half a dozen others opinions have changed so much about condo life we've always been aware in condominium living noises odors and you know the routine daily things but now people are taking stairs because they don't want to ride next to somebody in the elevator people are not ordering takeout as much as they used to things have changed so much within the condominium community and I'm seeing people on a daily basis during hours I would have never seen them before because they're forced to stay at home it's really changing the operations and all I can do is take notes whenever I experience something different from the norm so I can put that into the book later on when we're upgrading our policies and procedures yeah definitely SOPs are going to change quite a bit after this and we have no idea what our new normal will be we have no idea how to deal with the consequences of this because as you said many folks are at home many folks are not working the employment rate is going to skyrocket and that could lend itself to a surge in delinquencies and things like that and we know how problematic that can become that's kind of how you do business from maintenance fees and when that's not consistent or you don't know how to budget for things that you may or may not have to eventually write off it makes accounting and it makes budgeting and it makes everything a bit of a challenge and then you have to look for ways to re-evaluate that and that can affect everyone from the staff to amenities and things of that nature so we don't know what the new normal will be but like you said if we just stay in communication, regular communication and with the community and do our best to make sure that everybody is safe and things of that nature that's all we can do one day at a time because we didn't have a manual for this there was no manual so true so true in Hawaii tsunamis, earthquakes hurricanes these are things that I'm sure any competent manager has has some sort of a response procedure in their guidelines this is one we've never really thought about and funny considering our location between the Far East and the mainland it would have been something topical in our opinions because we're the gateway between two different lifestyles Asia and America but guaranteed it's going to be in our policy manual now I can't imagine who else is thinking about the changes that they've got to make to their own but again here in Hawaii the aloha spirit that we will get through it at my community level the people I'm seeing standing in the long lines at Costco and the grocery stores I haven't seen anybody acting in despair so to me I just I know that I'm lucky I live Hawaii and I want to thank you for allowing this opportunity to talk about this because at our level where the rubber meets the road I think our industry really needs to hear this in a different venue than what they're hearing on the radio and the public statements from our governmental leadership so thank you Cheryl I appreciate the opportunity and the invitation thank you Mike thank you and I agree and I echo your sentiments in terms of I've only seen you know a lot of aloha you know I think that we're coming together and we will get through this and I thank you for coming on the show and giving and giving the viewership things to think about that maybe they hadn't thought about I mean you're a plethora of good information and these are things that we're going to have to continue to talk about over I imagine well we know at least another month or so and so we'll just continue to communicate if you will and communicate and kind of take things one day at a time as we kind of figure out our new normal but we'll just we'll just keep talking about these things I imagine we're going to have you on again if you'll if you'll join us and you'll get in touch with me it's my pleasure anything I can do to serve my community I'm here for you thank you Mike thank you we really appreciate it so I want to thank everyone for tuning in and please tune in again like I said we're going to continue these shows we're going to continue talking about the things that you want to hear we kind of moved away from our normal programming if you will because at this time you know we're at a different state in terms of the world if you will so we're going to be focusing on this topic for a little while and please do write in and have topics that you'd like us to discuss and we can certainly visit that so thank you for joining and come again aloha