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Community Associations Prepare for Hurricane Florence

Community association homeowners in the path of Hurricane Florence are readying disaster preparedness plans.

Florence is forecasted to make landfall between South Carolina and North Carolina as a Category 3 or 4 storm late Thursday night or Friday morning and could stall over the region, bringing catastrophic flooding similar to what the Houston area experienced last year with Hurricane Harvey. As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 1.5 million people are facing mandatory evacuation in coastal areas due to destructive winds and a dangerous storm surge, though Florence’s impacts will be felt far inland too.

Crane Pointe Homeowners Association residents Dennis and Susan McGaha have done everything possible over the past three days to secure their home in Hampstead, N.C., which is located in between Surf City and Wrightsville Beach, just a few miles from the coast. The McGaha’s preparedness plan included securing all loose items—from pool floats to flowers—and adding window shutters and extra drain pipes.

Additionally, the couple gathered their most valuable possessions: family pictures. Every framed memory now lies in a plastic box, enclosed in one of the most secure rooms: the laundry room on an elevated space. The couple also has a weeks’ worth of sealed medicines and clothes.

When it comes to their neighbors’ preparedness it’s a mixed bag. While some have already headed inland, others have not installed a single shutter, according to the couple.

While homeowners like the McGaha’s prepare for the worst, additional storms behind Florence also are threatening more of the East Coast as the Atlantic hurricane season hits its peak.

Homeowners should include the following items in their disaster preparedness prep:

• Water—one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days for drinking and sanitation
• Food—at least a three-day supply of nonperishable food
• Battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert
• Flashlight
• First-aid kit
• Extra batteries
• Manual can opener
• Cell phone with chargers and a backup battery

CAI encourages all communities and their residents to be ready for Hurricane Florence and beyond. Associations, management companies, and business partners should review and compare their disaster plans.

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How to Be an Effective Community Manager

Managing people is no easy task. Whether you manage a small team of professionals or an entire organization, the following tips will help you break down barriers and foster great relationships.

Establish trust. Your employees and clients look to you for guidance, so be consistent with your approach to communication and problem-solving. Set and manage expectations—for yourself and for those you manage—to earn trust and respect. Good, consistent habits like organization, a positive attitude, and strong follow-through set an example for your team.

Learn & leverage behavioral styles. Pay attention to your team members’ individual work styles and your clients’ behaviors to determine how best to communicate with them. Different personalities require different approaches to achieve a shared goal, so learn how to spot strengths and weaknesses and leverage them to your team’s advantage.

Drive motivation. Set short- and long-term goals for yourself and your employees. Check in with your employees regularly to provide support and guidance, and to provide clear and direct feedback on what’s working and what’s not.

Manage your time. Learn how to let go and delegate tasks. Training techniques that use visual, hands-on, and auditory teaching methods help ensure a task is done properly. Set priority levels for assigned tasks and communicate them with your team.

Control conflict. The best way to handle conflict is by collaborating—instead of compromising—with everyone involved to resolve a problem. This way, team members work toward a resolution together instead of conceding to one side or the other.

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Doggy DNA Testing Forcing Residents to Pick up after Their Pets

People love their pets. Regardless if you live in a community association, there is nothing worse than waking up to a pile of pet poop in your front yard. But the problem isn’t that the pets are out of control, it’s that residents don’t take accountability for their pets.

With a surge of residents disregarding signs and choosing not to follow mandated rules, communities now are turning to “doggy DNA” testing.

Dog owners provide the community association with a DNA sample of their pet, typically a cheek swab, which is then sent to a lab where it is registered. If the dog goes in the neighborhood and it isn’t disposed of, the community association can send the sample to the lab for testing. If there is a match, the pet owner is fined.

CAI’s Chief Executive Officer Tom Skiba, CAE, recently spoke to the Capital Gazette about this problem.

A “very small minority” of community associations have started taking these steps in the past five years to curb poop problems, especially as DNA testing has become more cost-effective and accessible, says Skiba.

“It’s not about not liking pets, it’s not about the dogs. It’s about pet owners acting disrespectfully to their neighbors,” explains Skiba. “The boards have already tried all that they can, and they have an obligation to address this for an aesthetic and health reasons. They finally will run out of options, and this DNA testing is the last technologically enabled high-tech option you can find.”

Community associations typically won’t dish out funds for DNA testing methods unless they’ve tried everything else, including putting up notices, posting pet rules on a website, mentioning it in board meetings, and more.

Should community associations have to take these extreme measures to solve this pet problem?

Think about it, and make sure to carry an extra bag with you on your walk.

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Hurricane Harvey: Many Texans’ lives still far from normal one year later

One year ago today, Hurricane Harvey made landfall as a Category 4 storm in Texas, dumping as much as 51 inches of rain in some parts of the state—a U.S. record for rainfall from a single storm. Harvey caused an estimated $125 billion in damage and at least 68 deaths in Texas, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The Houston-based Episcopal Health Foundation, in partnership with the Kaiser Family Foundation, recently released a survey that found that many Texans’ lives are still far from normal despite the long-term recovery across the region moving forward.

Nearly a quarter of those surveyed said their financial situation is worse, and one in six reported that their overall quality of life has declined, according to the survey. Even more alarming, four in 10 also said they aren’t getting the help they need to recover and rebuild their lives.

In Harris County, 154,000 homes flooded, and only 36 percent had flood insurance, says Jeff Lindner, director of the hydrological operations division and a meteorologist with Harris County Flood Control District. “A year later, there are nearly 20,000 residences still recovering in different stages of the process because of contactor labor challenges and flood insurance issues.”

If there’s a silver lining from the storm, Harris County residents have become well-versed in flood measures to protect their homes when the next natural disaster strikes, explains Lindner.

“Residents now know what bayou or water shed they live next to and that water tends to run from West to East,” he says.

They also know what happens if flood gates reach critical levels. “In some cases, they know they don’t have to worry until it reaches 58 feet,” says Lindner.

Jeff Lindner, director of the hydrological operations division and a meteorologist with Harris County Flood Control District.

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Making a difference after the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School

Every year, the CAI Southeast Florida Chapter hosts a golf event and donates a portion of the proceeds to a local charity. But this year was different.

When the lives of 17 students and faculty members were lost at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 14, community members were struck with shock and sorrow. Among them was Steve G. Mason, CMCA, AMS, PCAM, Atlantic Pacific Management, in Palm Beach, Fla. Mason, a CAI Southeast Florida Chapter board member and chair of the chapter’s golf committee, knew he had to do something.

We recently caught up with Mason to talk about the tragedy and the steps he took to help.

How did the tragedy impact you?
When the incident occurred, it struck close to home. My wife is a Marjory Stoneman Douglas graduate and, one day, our three little kids will attend this high school. My wife is a local elementary school teacher, and my sister is a local high school teacher. We have friends who teach there.

For the chapter event this year, we decided to hold a fundraiser for the school. There was full support and excitement among all chapter board members to be able to give back after the tragedy.

Freshman teacher Felicia Burgin set up a meeting for me with the Assistant Principal Denise Reed. I wanted to know where the money would be going and exactly what the students and faculty needed to get through this recovery period. The school’s staff was thrilled to hear about the fundraiser.

How did the event go?
Since we cover such a large area, the chapter caters its events to benefit our various communities. This year’s event, on April 7, was our best turnout in history, made possible with the support of our business partners. It included 152 golfers, and every sponsorship category was sold.

I wouldn’t have been able to coordinate and execute this event without my platform at CAI. I’ve been a Southeast Florida Chapter board member for 10 years and chaired this golf committee for the past eight years. This event was extra meaningful for my family.

We raised $12,000. The money will go toward activities, comfort animals, supplies, and overall assistance for the school.

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Electric scooters: Is the newest commuting solution bringing chaos to community associations?

Move over Uber, Lyft, and bike shares, dockless, electric scooters are the newest mode of transportation taking over cities, and controversy has already come to some community associations.

The scooters, which can go a maximum of 15 mph, provide a relatively cheap and convenient commuting solution for riders, according to the Los Angeles Times. Riders download an app, provide payment, and then use the app’s GPS to find an available scooter, which they unlock with their phone. Once riders reach their destination, they re-lock the scooter with the app. Riders are supposed to park the scooters on the side of the road or sidewalk so they don’t block vehicle or pedestrian traffic, but that’s not always the case.

In Los Angeles, where the scooters have gained a lot of traction, community associations are finding abandoned scooters within their gates, including in their driveways, on sidewalks, and near entrances, which presents a safety hazard. Some residents even describe the scooters as “sidewalk litter.”

Cities across the country have started to regulate where the scooters can be ridden (ideally, in bike lanes) and where they can be left. A Los Angeles proposal would require that the scooters and dockless bicycles be parked in the outer edge of the sidewalk and locked to something, such as a bike rack or a parking meter, according to reports.

The scooters have become such a nuisance in San Francisco and Santa Monica, Calif., that officials have been sending cease-and-desist notices and holding emergency meetings, The New York Times reports. Some cities have filed charges against the scooter companies.

Have you noticed dockless, electric scooters on your condominium or community association property? Will you consider developing rules on this new mode of transportation? Tell us in the comments below.

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Talking ‘Bout Your Generations

Four distinct generations—matures, baby boomers, Gen Xers, and millennials—own homes in community associations and are in today’s workforce. The mix of characteristics and diverse workstyles of these generations has the potential to lead to miscommunication and discord. It’s little wonder board members and managers are looking for guidance on how to create more compatible and efficient living, governing, and working environments.

An acclaimed expert on generational differences, Cam Marston provided some of that guidance in a presentation during CAI’s 2018 Annual Conference and Exposition in May.

Marston, the author of Generational Insights, identifies clear behaviors in each demographic.

The matures (also known as the silent generation; born between 1928 and 1945) and baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964), for instance, favor collaboration, teamwork, and hierarchy. They tend to arrive early, stay late, and embrace plenty of meetings.

Gen Xers (born between 1965 and 1980) are independent and self-sufficient. They are also technologically adept and well-educated. Because of their independence and resourcefulness, Gen Xers believe the best way to manage people is to get out of the way and have as little contact as possible.

Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) are multitaskers and comfortable with both group and individual interaction. They are generally adept at social media and prefer to text than call or email, Marston says. Like their baby boomer parents, the millennials embrace teamwork and like building relationships. However, unlike the boomers, millennials value work-life balance over career.

Marston believes the biggest leadership gap is with the Gen Xers. Their “reluctance to get involved” can get in their way of being strong, effective managers, he says. Yet they need to start getting a handle on the millennials. “As a group, the millennials are like a huge boulder barreling down hill, and the Gen Xers need to learn how to engage now to be able to guide and lead these workers in the future,” he says.

Those who want to create high-performance workplaces, whether within a management company or an association board, should learn “to recognize their own inherent workstyles as well as those of their colleagues” and then set their own workstyle aside, Marston says. Doing so demonstrates an understanding of generational differences and motives that can help people connect with each other.

Marston recommends treating colleagues at work or peers on boards as if they were people from another country or culture. Making one change in how you interact with each other could lead to better relationships. “Usually, one change creates momentum,” he says.

And before you get too comfortable with these four generations, the iGen is on its way. Individuals born after 1997 will be joining the workforce in large numbers and could become homeowners in a few years.

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