On Tuesday, WinnResidential, the operator for the Oak Grove Senior Terrace Apartments updated the Oakley City Council and community of efforts to allow residents to move back home after a sewage backup caused the building to be red tagged.
On Sunday at 11:35 am, an elevator rescue (turned out to be vacant) resulted in a building at The Oaks Apartments (otherwise known as Carol Lane Apartments to locals) to become red tagged when it was observed that water was running down a wall and to an electrical box—this was due to a clogged wastewater line and created an overflow into a vacant second floor apartment. PG&E as requested to shut off power to the building—the City of Oakley ultimately red-tagged the building.
The Oaks clarified Monday an inspection late Sunday found that water had never came into contact with the elevator’s control panel or electrical service.
Statement & update at May 28 Oakley City Council Meeting:
Good Evening,
My name is Oke Johnson. I am the Executive Vice President for WinnResidential, an affordable housing operator here in Oakley.
I am here tonight to address any questions regarding the monthly report on the Oak Grove apartment complex, as requested by Councilors Meadows and Shaw. That report is addressed to City Manager McMurray and is included in your meeting packet.
Before I do that, I would like to provide an update to the Council regarding an incident late Sunday morning that required the relocation of 42 households from the Oak Grove Senior Terrace Apartments.
This morning, PG&E restored power to the community and we worked with City inspectors and officials to assess all building and life safety systems, including the elevator. It was determined that it was safe to turn the electricity back on in the building and allow residents to return. Unfortunately, a part is needed to complete repairs to the elevator. Our contractor is doing everything possible to have the part in hand and installed on Wednesday. Residents who require the use of the elevator have been asked to stay in their hotel until it is repaired.
I want to stress that, despite initial reports and gossip, residents were never in harm’s way on Sunday and the property management staff responded immediately to keep residents comfortable and calm.
Thirty-six (36) senior households were relocated to three area hotels on Sunday evening and five other households stayed with family and friends after local officials ordered power shut off to the apartment building over concern that water from a clogged wastewater line could penetrate the electrical panel for building’s elevator.
The clog in a line on the first floor caused water to back up and overflow into a vacant second floor apartment located adjacent to the elevator shaft and above the elevator control room. The property staff had been in that apartment unit on Friday showing it to a prospective tenant. There was no evidence of a back-up at that time.
Fire and City officials acted on Sunday with an abundance of caution, based on the information they had at the time.
We first learned of an issue in the building at 8:34 a.m. when our on-call technician received a call from a concerned resident. The technician lives on site and got the building very quickly. He tried to but was unable to reset the elevator. He then went floor to floor checking for anyone who might be trapped, but no one was found. He contacted the property manager, who called the elevator company.
As it turns out, no one was ever trapped in the building’s elevator. An inspection of the elevator and electrical equipment by an electrician found no evidence of water coming into contact with the elevator’s control panel or electrical service.
Unless residents were in an unauthorized and restricted location within the building, they were not exposed to wastewater. No water entered occupied apartments or common areas and the wastewater line was cleared on Sunday. All sewage lines in the building were hydro-jetted today.
Immediately after the property was red-tagged, management staff began gathering residents in a nearby community room and ordered food, water and snacks for them.
By 4 p.m. Sunday, management team members had arranged hotel stays for all residents. They also worked with residents to retrieve personal items from their apartments and, in some cases, personally drove them to their hotels late Sunday afternoon and into the evening. The property staff also worked with residents for pet care and, in some instances, our team fed cats that would not leave the building. A security service has been protected the building and resident apartments during the overnight hours since Sunday.
Staff delivered lunch and dinner to residents on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and have maintained constant contact with every household impacted by this incident.
We have called residents daily to inquire if they need any toiletries or necessities or medications and to make sure we can meet their dietary restrictions with the meals we are providing. We kept a detailed call log to ensure we had accurate information on all residents and to avoid misinformation regarding those residents. That log is available for review.
On Monday, management staff delivered a $300 gift card to each household for incidentals and the cost of replacing food that may have spoiled. Residents are not being charged for the hotel stay and will receive a partial credit on their June rent due to the incident. We will also help file claims for those with renter’s insurance.
We are grateful for the cooperation and support we received from Mayor Williams and Vice Mayor Shaw, from area hotel operators who provided rooms and accommodated pets on short notice, and for the vendors who mobilized quickly to help us.
We also want to express our gratitude to the affected residents who, by and large, have maintained a positive and helpful attitude throughout this unfortunate situation.
Most of all, I want to personally and publicly commend the property management and maintenance staff who acted immediately to make the safety and welfare of residents their first priority in an emergency on the holiday weekend.
Our efforts to return the property to normal operations are ongoing this evening as we welcome residents home and they will continue in the days ahead.
Oakley City Council to Receive Update on The Oaks
Call it coincidental timing or dumb luck, but the Oakley City Council were scheduled to receive a report on The Oaks Tuesday night during its council meeting–the agenda was released Friday, ahead of Sunday’s incident.
| Building | Buildings | Physical Occupancy | Economic Occupancy |
| Oak Creek | 51 & 49 | 75% | 74.43% |
| The Commons | 53 & 59 | 76% | 75.92% |
| Oak Grove Terrace | 65 | 81% | 75.09% |
| Oak Place | 67 | 76% | 91.54% |
| Oak Forest | 81 | 77% | 93.94% |
| Oak Meadows | 69 | 95% | 78.23% |
| Oak Ridge | 73 | 86% | 85.42% |
The staff is working on 25 new applications currently with a goal of each property to be in the mid 90% by June 30.
Legal: 18 residents are eviction for nonpayment of rent and other lease violations.
Repairs & Maintenance
Capital Projects – 1 st Quarter – Completed
- Landscape– Weed control, tree and shrubbery trimming, dead brush removal, edging and mowing, irrigation repairs
- Lighting – Interior & exterior inspections for photocells & bulbs replacement, timer adjustments for daylight savings, major repairs were coordinated with an outside vendor
- Sidewalk Repairs & Replacement – ongoing process for improvement and replacement of broken concrete
- Clubroom Improvements – Buildings 59, 65, 67, 81– flooring, painting, furniture
Compliance & Recertifications
- 46 annual recertifications completed in March
- 30 annual recertifications completed in April
- 25 annual certifications due in May and 20 have been completed, 5 pending completion
- 37 annual certifications due in June and 24 have been completed, 13 Pending completion
- 37 annual certifications due in July and 20 have been completed, 17 pending completion
Capital Projects – 2nd Quarter – Underway
- Clubroom Improvements – Buildings 59, 65, 67 – all new furniture purchased and installed.
- Heritage Grove area Maintenance
- Spring cleaning of Buildings- Currently addressing interior doors, floor repairs, lighting replacements and cleaning of lens covers
- Balcony Inspections – Balconies scheduled to be inspected by 5/31/2024.
- Building & Unit Inspections – HVAC, roofs, windows, fascia, stucco and common area building inspections to be completed in June. Common area building inspections completed and all life & safety items have been repaired. Non-urgent items will be scheduled for completion in 3rd quarter. Unit inspections are scheduled for July and August.
- Tree Removal – At risk trees have been removed.
- Trash Compactor replacement – New compactor was installed on May 2 nd . All new trash carts were received at the same time
Day-to-day Maintenance
The property continued to make progress on closing out aging work orders, with 97 more works orders completed in April than were reported to the office. The property continues to balance resolving older service requests with non-emergency requests which are received.
March Service Request
- 96 new work orders were reported in March
- 295 work orders were completed in March
April Service Request
- 152 new work orders were reported in April
- 249 work orders were completed in April
Keys, Locks & Doors
- Monthly doors and locks inspections have occurred to ensure keys operate properly, doors open and close properly.
- Common area doors are inspected weekly, most recently on 5/13/2024 and 5/6/2024 with no findings.
- Inspection on Monday, 5/20, identified one door not properly working. The door is currently secure, additional repairs by a locksmith are scheduled for Friday, 5/24.
Cameras
- All camera systems were inspected last on 5/20/2024 and all were operational. Inspections occur biweekly on Monday.
Gates
- The motherboard on the communication system was vandalized on 4/19/2024 and the vehicle gates have not been operating properly. The vendor was contacted to assist, and they are researching solutions. They have to find a compatible motherboard for replacement. Camera footage has been requested to prosecute the vandals.
Previous Stories:
1 comment
Comments are closed.
Add Comment