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 condo manager in the news
Reprinted from CM Condominium Manager magazine, with permission of the Association of Condominium Managers of Ontario, ©2003.
 Putting the Web to Work
Using condo Websites as an effective communication tool.
By Bill Steinburg
The board of directors at MTCC #1147 in Toronto decided to create some space for residents to get together, share information and ideas and get to know one another. These days, virtually, everyone in that condo community spends time there.
The condominium launched a community Website recently in an effort to create an online gathering place for residents and visitors alike. Today, the site is an active and effective medium for communication among residents, the board and anyone else who is interested in the 80-unit building at 8 Wellesley St. E. in Toronto.
"Buildings are communities," explains Bruce Bishins, a member of the condominium's board as well as the community's Webmaster. "We had very little opportunity to communicate but for seeing each other in the elevators and whatnot. The residents really feel that the Website has bridged that gap of not being in touch with our community."
By visiting the Website - which has both public and residents-only features - residents can now view building announcements, meeting notices and previous meeting documents. They can post a comment or concern about condo-related issues on a community bulletin board, send an email message directly to board members or the management company and can even advertise items they have for sale in a community notices section. The Website provides visitors with general information about the condominium corporation and directions to the building, as well as listing local businesses and services of interest.
Initially, the condo board was looking for ways to increase communication effectively within the building and decrease the costly amount of paper that was being used to print and reprint announcements, forms, newsletters and documents. While those documents are still posted in elevators and at other designated areas, they are not distributed to every unit. Instead, those owners and residents with Internet access (more than 85 percent of those living in the building) have the option to view the documents online and print them out if they so desire. Those without access are able to request paper copies of all announcements.
"It was quite expensive to distribute various things continually and communicate in a paper environment," says Bishins, "and we would often have people saying 'we never received that' or 'I am not aware of that.' We felt we needed to have something that would be better geared towards an effective means of communications and a secure means of communications."
The board began its Internet-based experiment by collecting email addresses from all the residents who have Internet access, with the intention of managing the email traffic themselves. As that process moved forward, however, they realized they could do much more than simply establish an electronic mail system. Bishins hooked up with Peter Pietrzkiewicz, the managing director of WebCanada, a Toronto-based company that has created a Website software program specifically for condominiums, called aptly enough Condo Manager 2.0. (Visit www.manageyourcondo.com to see an example of how the software works.) Using this program, the condo was able to establish and customize its Website to meet the needs of the board and provide a full range of services to the residents.
"I attended an AGM a couple years ago where frustrated owners, obviously not satisfied with the operation of the condominium, started to yell and scream opinions, questions, comments and complaints," Pietrzkiewicz says, explaining the birth of Condo Manager. "I thought that there must be a better way. At the meeting, we formed a Communications Committee that began to lay the framework for Condo Manager."
Using the WebCanada software, MTCC #1147 has been able to include features such as a package delivery notification service (letting residents know via their work email or cell phone that a package has arrived during the day), an online voting system (allowing the board to ask residents for informal input on issues) and a unit-listing service organized in conjunction with real estate brokers (to offer online tours and information).
Once the Website is up and running and the residents have been registered in the system, the software makes Website maintenance quite simple, according to Bishins - he says he spends less than an hour a week attending to his duties as Webmaster. Residents can manage their own accounts, bulletin board messages are posted through the software and documents are archived in Acrobat PDF format for straightforward downloading by residents.
The response, Bishins says, has been fantastic. People who were not likely to express their comments and concerns in a letter are taking part in online discussions, increasing the feedback the board receives and allowing issues to be resolved before they fester and become problematic. A recent example of that related to the paint colours chosen for hallway renovations. A lengthy online dialogue led to a meeting of concerned residents and a subsequent resolution.
"They find, in the privacy of their own homes, with the click of a mouse they can put forth an issue for everybody to comment on," explains Bishins, "whether it be in the discussion forum area or in an email to the board or to the management company. There is document tracking; there is a record. There is ownership taken of a problem or an issue and, as a result, there is follow through. Then people can see that we [the board members] are doing something about it."
While it has most definitely improved communication within the condominium at MTCC #1147, creating a community-dedicated Website has produced another benefit that Bishins and his fellow board members had not expected.
"The Website has made cross connections among tenants themselves," he explains. "On the discussion boards, they know each other, they can write to each other, they can express an opinion. So people begin to recognize names and at the AGM, they introduce themselves. There is a recognition factor that makes the building a very pleasant place. We have found that the Website itself has sort of brought people together."
By creating a virtual meeting place for the residents at 8 Wellesley St. E., the board of directors of that condominium has also encouraged residents to get together more often in the old-fashioned way - face to face.
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