COVID-19 Bulletin No. 6: Thinking Ahead - The Management Office

Updated on March 19, 2020

With COVID-19 being a hard and fast reality for everyone globally, condominium communities are swept up in this dynamic and must think proactively as contained environments to manage the risk.  Of course, the type of condominium you live in or work in will impact the degree and nature of protocols to be undertaken.  However, for those in multi-story residential condominiums, we all need to look forward and think proactively on how to manage the risk. The primary risk to be managed is health risk at this point and to curtail the spreading of this virus, it seems that ensuring minimal contact with people is the best method to slow this dynamic. For more information, please go to the World Health Organization website https://www.who.int/

With this said, the Management Office is a vital part of the condominium community.

With respect to the management office, we wanted to share the following suggestions for consideration by condominium boards and their management teams:

1. Keep office hours to essential times during the day to effect operations on site and have a closed door policy.

2. Shut the onsite office down completely during the week on those days that the Corporation can be operated from remote locations, such as a central head office for property management.

3. Design condominium websites as a place for regular updates.

4. While we are of the position that the Corporation should be reducing the numbers of visitors to the condominium, including the number of contractors attending the site, we understand that contractors will have to attend and that this must be overseen to a degree by property management. Accordingly, coordination with property management as to how this will be done in such a way to minimize the number of people being brought to the site and limit exposure shall be discussed, together with contractor protocols.

5. Provide adequate hand sanitizers, sanitizing wipes and masks for the management office so that services therein can be cleaned regularly.

6. Proactively ask service providers for their safety protocols and provide a listing of all of the Corporation’s protocols.

7. Communication is key.  In a circumstance like this, keeping people informed is essential. Thus, using electronic messaging and virtual bulletin boards are vital.

All of the information contained in this article is of a general nature for informational purposes only, and is not intended to represent the definitive opinion of the firm of Elia Associates on any particular matter. Although every effort is made to ensure that the information contained in this newsletter is accurate and up-to-date, the reader should not act upon it without obtaining appropriate professional advice and assistance.

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