BRASS KEY ACCESS WAS A BIG PROBLEM
Located in Chilton, WI, Chilton Community Properties manages multiple sites representing dozens of subsidized apartment-style housing units in addition to a 32-unit single-story, secured building in which their administration offices reside. “When I first took over this job 12 years ago, when tenants moved out and keys were not returned, the process was to swap existing locks from other locations and that always made me nervous,” explained recently retired Executive Director, Collen Connors. “We had no idea how many keys were out there and to how many locks.” The Chilton Communities Properties team was also paying to have locks repinned creating additional time-consuming expenses. They knew they needed a better solution for their brass key access control system.
FINDING PROXESS®
During the WAHA (Wisconsin Association of Housing Authorities) Fall Convention in 2023, Colleen reconnected with Greg Smit with Gappa Security Solutions. “Four to five years ago we started talking with our security provider, Gappa Security Solutions, about our internal door and lock security system and finding a way to upgrade it. Unfortunately, nothing at that time was affordable,” Connors recalls. After the Gappa team introduced Colleen and her team to the Proxess technology platform at WAHA 2023 and Proxess’ ability to bring electronic access control to ALL doors with NO IT REQUIRED for about the price of a grade 1 keyed lock, Colleen knew they had found the solution to their lingering brass key access control problem.
FROM ANALOG TO DIGITAL
Day one of the Proxess installation was incredibly efficient and quickly put Colleen and her team at ease. “We were expecting to spend days and days on programming and figuring out how a new system works, but we knew within the first few minutes that Proxess was completely different,” Connors recalled. She continued, “We were adding doors in our office in the LoxIQ App and the Gappa team was installing locks at the same time in subzero temperatures in mid-January. Within just a few minutes our tenants were ditching brass keys and they were receiving email invitations from us to start immediately using their mobile phone as their key to their new Proxess locks!”
THE BENEFITS OF PROXESS
When compared with their previous brass key access control system, Chilton Community Properties discovered several immediate benefits of the Proxess access control system including ease of use, happy tenants, increased security and significant time savings. “I have not heard of a single complaint,” Connors stated more than 6 months after implementing the first round of Proxess locks for their family unit apartment-style complexes. Connors even recalls some tenants calling her to thank her for the new Proxess lock system, “They were thankful because they felt more secure and everything worked with one Proxess credential.” When asked what she would say to other Housing Authority leaders about Proxess she commented, “If you are even remotely thinking about keyless entry for units, you should consider Proxess. The price is incredibly affordable and you can manage it from anywhere!”