Essex Property : Pat Skoropada, 26 years with Essex

1. 26 years with Essex, first off thank you for your incredible tenure with Essex. Please tell us about your journey!

This has been a great journey for me. I have met so many good people! My old manager that I used to work before Essex brought me into Essex, thank goodness for her.

2. You must've gathered quite a few great memories, could you please share one?

This story happened about 5 years ago, the other technician I was working with got a call about a water leak, but he didn't want to enter because a dog was barking. He called me over, since I was really good with animals to help him enter the apartment. When I opened the door, the dog was the size of my hand, I had a good laugh with everyone in the office.

3. What do you enjoy the most about working at Essex?

I love working here. I am blessed to see the history of the changes Essex has gone through. Essex has always provided a good environment and the company events are so much fun, I remember the one in 1992 specifically. What a great day eating hot dogs and playing volleyball!

4. What is one thing most people don't know about you?

One thing most people don't know about me is that I am very passionate about animals. I rescued a cat that a past resident had left when they moved out. I am unsure of how the cat got inside the refrigerator, but I ended up taking this cat home and still taking care of it. I also nurtured a turtle for a couple of days that was found on the property, but we found the residents.

See what his teammates are saying about Pat!

'I have had the pleasure of working with Pat the longest of anyone here. We have worked together for 4 years and I can tell you he is so well respected and liked at our community. More often than not when people call here for work orders they request Pat and Pat only to come and do the repair. He knows this Community exceptionally well and I know I can count on him to repair anything and find any leak in the Bldg. He is such an asset to the office and the residents. I can sincerely say I don't know what we would do without him!'

Kate Chamberlain, Assistant Manager

'First of all I want to start off by saying that Pat is one of the best technicians I have ever met in my career. He is very intelligent, friendly, loving and just passionate about his job. He can repair basically anything he gets his hands on. He is very good with plumbing, appliances, dry wall pretty much everything. The reason why I say he is loving is because we found a Tortoise on the property that no one was claiming. Pat took it upon himself to nurture the tortoise till it was claimed. This was heartbreaking for Pat but at the same time he was glad to find the true owner. I have been working with Pat for almost 9 months and I have never seen him be late or miss any days. He is by far one of the most hardest workers I have ever met.'

Martin Vazquez, Maintenance Supervisor