Manager’s Report – September 2014

High temperatures in SunBird reaching 115 degrees have made working outdoors quite challenging. SunBird has also had some strong wind storms causing some minor damage to a few homes with shingle roofs, several trees blew over and many suffered broken branches. Many requests have been made by owners to remove large trees in the common areas in fear of them potentially blowing over. With the large amount of debris, in conjunction with the golf course, we have temporarily used a large roll off dumpster placing it in the east clubhouse parking lot to expedite the storm debris haul out. As soon as one storm clean-up is completed, another storm blows through creating the mess of debris all over again. Unfortunately, as of the date of preparing this article, SunBird has missed most of the rain and has not seen more than a few drops of water.

The SunBird clubhouse was constructed 27 years ago and needs some plumbing maintenance work and upgrades. This past season, we had some problems with the drainage pipes causing water damage to the building. During this process it was discovered that several sections of piping is seriously deteriorating and needs replacement. The clubhouse was entirely closed for three days to perform maintenance work mainly on the drain and water pipes for replacement of deteriorating sections. The new wood bar top installed last summer had some warranty work performed during this time that caused a very strong chemical odor within the entire clubhouse. With the water turned off to the building for the plumbing work and the strong odor of the bar top refinishing, we required the building to be closed for safety and to expedite the repair work.

Last summer SunBird Unit 1A asphalt roads were completely removed to the base and repaved with 3 inches of new asphalt. It is highly recommended that after one year a seal coat be applied to preserve and extend the life of the asphalt road. This scheduled seal coating road work was completed this past month without complication.

The Communications Committee of the Board has met to evaluate current communications with the SunBird community looking for ways to update and improve. One of the areas that were of discussion was quicker communications by utilizing e-mail for summary monthly news items and important information notices. A SunBird e-mail newsletter is being created to be e-mailed to all those who have supplied e-mail addresses to the SunBird office. Registration can now be easily done from the SunBird website. At the top of the main page of the website is a brief article explaining this and an icon picture of the “mail chimp.” Click on this icon to check if your e-mail address has been registered or to edit it or to join the list. The SunBird website and monthly SunBird News are great sources of information.

The City of Chandler council election is approaching and campaigning is at its height with signs and advertisements everywhere throughout the city. SunBird hosted a city council Meet the Candidates night this past month in the Ballroom and had five of the six candidates in attendance to speak and meet with residents. We appreciate them taking the time to visit SunBird and listen to our comments.

As the weather hopefully starts cooling down soon, we look forward to our many SunBird friends who have left for the summer months to safely return. Please stop by the office to update our records and for a personal welcome back greeting.