12-2021 One Voice

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DECEMBER 2021
• SHOWCASE - THREE FABULOUS NEW PROPERTIES
• LET’S “CONNECT”!
• CONNECT TIPS AND TRICKS
• OUTLOOK EMAIL HACKS
• CASE STUDY: ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING
• SPOT OUR ADS CONTEST!
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PROPERTY SHOWCASE
Our family of managed properties has been enriched by the addition of three landmark
Chicago buildings – all signed on the same day! Learn more about these prestigious
associations.
Cirrus, Lakeshore East Neighborhood
Cirrus is the newest luxury high-rise building in Lakeshore East - in
fact, the first residents are just moving in! Soaring 50 stories over
the Chicago waterfront, this building is just around the corner from
our corporate office, and we’re proud to be neighbors.
The building is home to over 350 residences ranging from 650 to
3,000 square feet. Over 48,000 square feet of world-class amenities
include a 24-hour doorman, fitness center and yoga studio, pool,
rooftop terrace with fire pits, indoor dog run, and a play area and
splash pad for its youngest residents.
Aqua, Lakeshore East Neighborhood
An unforgettable architectural icon, Aqua is recognizable for the soft
flowing lines of its asymmetrical balconies. Aqua is located in the
heart of the Lakeshore East community, where the Chicago River
meets Lake Michigan.
Its 87 stories house a variety of studio, one and two bedroom
residences. The resort-like amenities include largest outdoor pool
and amenity deck in Chicago! The building is also home to the
Radisson Blu Hotel.
222 E. Pearson, Streeterville Neighborhood
Also known as “Pearson on the Park”, this high-rise is nestled
in the heart of Streeterville across from Lake Shore Park. The
building was built in 1963, and contains 219 homes on 27 floors.
Amenities include 24-hour door staff, dry cleaners, a party room,
sun deck, bike room and exercise facilities. It is in the midst of
all the best shopping, entertainment and restaurants in Chicago,
and is a walker’s paradise.
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Let’s “Connect”
The Connect tool is FirstService Residential’s communication lifeline between residents,
board members, Customer Care Center and management teams. This proprietary system
is what sets FirstService Residential apart from our competition and keeps everyone
connected on a daily basis. While the capabilities of this tool are almost endless, it is a
daunting task to learn (and remember) how to use many of its functions as well as keep up
with additions and updates.
During the recent FirstVoice associate listening
sessions, we heard loud and clear the need for
Connect support resources and a channel to be able
to ask questions “in-the-moment” when an issue
arises. Below are a few resources that are available
to help you navigate through Connect:
Let’s Connect Team Channel – Everyone at
FirstService Illinois has been added to the newly
created “Let’s Connect” Microsoft Teams Channel,
located in the All Illinois Associates Team.
This channel is where you can ask Connect-related
questions that fellow associates and the Connect
Team will see; hear about updates and changes
to the tool, and use the wiki to search for Connect
usage answers. If you see a question and know
the answer, jump in and be genuinely helpful to
your fellow associates while partnering with your
Connect Team.
Let’s “Connect” Monthly Session – Krisztina Hynes,
Connect Manager, will host a monthly “open”
session the second Thursday of each month. The
first session is scheduled for December 9th at 1:00
p.m. One or two Connect topics will be presented
each month, and there will be plenty of time left for
you to ask any questions you might have. Invites
will be sent out approximately 1-2 weeks before the
session.
The FirstService Residential University – We
currently have over 40 videos housed in the
University covering a variety of topics around the
operation and use of Connect. There are short 3-5
minute how-to videos as well as sessions of our
Learn Day presentations that cover a variety of
topics. The current list of videos can be found in
Connect or you can click here to access it. https://
bit.ly/3rsj6mV
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...continued
The Connect Wiki – Can be found at the top of
Connect:
easy-to-follow instructions on how to perform many
of the processes in Connect.
with the “?” or through the browser at https://wiki.
myconnect.cc/. You can search for your answers
about how to use Connect on this site. There are
screenshots and step by step directions as well as
direct links to the University Videos.
Corporate Tab in Connect – Connect resources and
information are separated into “associate portal”
and “resident portal” with useful information and
documents contained in both folders.
In addition, the Training & Development folder is
home to the Quick Click Job Aids where you can find
We hope these tools and resources will help you
save time while you use the Connect system to
communicate with and manage our FirstService
Residential properties.
CONNECT TIPS AND TRICKS
SMS Updates
The process of “opting into” SMS changed when the new Communicate Tool was implemented. We
have updated the email template that is available in Connect so that it can assist residents to verify
their number and opt-in to Communication Categories. The template name is SMS Verification Email
Template. Please review it if you have or plan to communicate using SMS through the Communicate
Tool. The residents’ communication preferences must be set for them to be opted-in to receive SMS
communications.
Community Calendar
One of the many benefits of Connect for the homeowners and Board Members is the Community
Calendar. Community Calendars, by default, are presented to the residents that use the Resident
Portal. Scheduled events should be posted to the calendar for the member’s convenience. Events
such as Board Meetings, inspections, projects and vendor visits are some examples of events that
can be useful on the calendar for the community. Please be mindful, if you’re entering any resident
information on the calendar, everyone on the resident portal can see that same information, not just
the Board Members.
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OUTLOOK
EMAIL HACKS
Work smarter, not harder with these
Outlook features and shortcuts.
Clean Up Your Inbox in One Click
Taking time off is wonderful until the moment you
open your email after returning to work. You may
have received hundreds of emails while you were
out of the office, and now you’re faced sorting
through them.
With Outlook’s clean-up function, you can
drastically reduce the number of emails you
have to deal with in just a few clicks. The cleanup
function removes all email replies that are
duplicated in a later thread, allowing you to read
a single thread instead of dozens of individual
emails.
To clean up your inbox quickly:
1. While viewing your inbox, click the “Clean Up”
button, and select “Clean Up Folder.”
2. Click the “Clean Up Folder” button in the popup
to confirm the action.
The inbox clean-up function removes all
duplicate emails, leaving you with significantly
fewer emails to sort through.
The clean-up function can be a little
disconcerting to use initially. What if it deletes
something important like a reply that contained
an attachment that was removed in a later
thread?
Rest assured: the tool is sophisticated and will
not delete any emails with attachments or text
that aren’t exactly duplicated in later threads,
and you can always review deleted items in the
trash folder if needed.
Use Rules to Automatically Sort Emails and
Stop Receiving Irrelevant Emails
Outlook rules work to automatically sort incoming
emails to the appropriate folder. You
may want to send emails with a certain subject
line or sender name to a special folder, or send
unwanted automatic notifications straight to
trash.
1. Right-click the email, hover over “Rules,” and
select “Create Rule.”
2. Choose the criteria for the rule:
• “From [Sender]” will execute the rule any
time you receive an email from a specific
email address or contact.
• “Subject contains” will execute the rule
any time a specified subject line is used.
3. Select what happens when the rule runs.
• Check “Move the item to folder,” and select
the folder where you want the emails
to be sent.
• Choose the “Deleted Items” folder if you
never want to see them.
• Send to archive folder if you may need to
review the emails in the future.
4. Click “OK” to apply the rule.
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In Good Company
Vendor Marketing
CASE STUDY:
Electric Vehicle Charging
Prairie Point is a 24-story condominium building at 1600
S. Prairie Avenue in Chicago’s South Loop. Prairie Pointe
Owners Association and First Service Residential wished to
offer an economical electric vehicle charging (EVC) option
to condominium owners that also own parking space with
the building’s parking deck.
Electrical capacity within the parking deck was
limited, and electric distribution is metered
by the utility and paid for by the association.
The board contracted with AMS Mechanical
Systems to build infrastructure that:
• Would bill individual users for the
electric vehicle charging, rather than the
association.
•
• Could be expanded without a significant
investment by the individual parking space/
condo owner as an EVC space is desired.
The Solutions
The design team at AMS determined that
electrical capacity was available in the
building’s main electric room that is adjacent
to the parking deck. The electrical distribution
panel was unmetered and intended to have
distributed electric utility meters provided at/
near the point of use.
In collaboration with ComEd, the design team
developed a distribution system with pointof-use
electric utility metering at each parking
space where vehicle charging is provided.
These utility meters are assigned to each
parking space/condo owner, and utility billing
is direct to the owner.
An electrical distribution system was installed
and includes two strategically located panel
boards with capacity to provide up to 40 vehicle
charging locations. When an owner requests
vehicle charging for their parking space, it is
relatively simple and economical to extend
power to the owners parking space and install
the meter/receptacle.
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(Continued)
To allow for a more economical vehicle charging solution, 20-amp, 240 volt receptacles were
incorporated into the design. For the average electric vehicle, this will provide a full charge
within 10 hours, which is perfect for overnight charging. Owners are also provided with
information for charging cord sets that will allow proper connection between their outlet and
the vehicle. Since each outlet is only intended to be used by an individual owner, no charging
stations were required thus significantly reducing the installation cost to the parking space/
condo owner.
The Result
A cost-effective distribution system was successfully installed to the Association’s parameters.
The system currently serves 12 parking space/condo owners, with economical expansion for an
additional 28 parking spaces.
TESTIMONIAL
Fate Sivac, CAM, Property Manager
“The purpose of this e-mail is to highly recommend AMS Mechanical for any significant Electrical,
HVAC or Plumbing needs. Since 2018, AMS has worked with our association to find the most cost
effective and least intrusive solutions to add infrastructure for EV charging stations to individual
deeded parking spots. The project was finally approved, and work started in June of 2021. Concrete
coring was completed without an issue for the main electrical infrastructure, and the AMS crew was
on schedule and very organized.
Because the associations was extremely happy with the work done by AMS, AMS was given sole
rights to install the individual runs to all of the deeded parking spots that had signed up for a station.
We are absolutely delighted that we made the decision to hire AMS and look forward to any future
projects with them.”
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Spot Our Ads!
Our Ads!
FirstService Residential has showered the southwest suburbs with cheer! As our
family of managed properties grows in this area, we’re investing in the community.
We’ve sponsored:
• Orland Park’s Holiday Festival
• The Village of Geneva’s Holiday Tour of Homes
• Aurora Festival of Lights (11/28 - 12/28)
We’ll be advertising throughout the holiday season at the entrances to the Fox
Valley Mall in Aurora. Snap a photo of the advertisement shown above to be entered
into a drawing for a Starbucks gift card.
Email to: angela.duea@fsresidential.com by 1/3/22.
Happy holidays to all!
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