This past year the clubhouse has received a lot attention for upkeep and maintenance to keep it modern and updated. The clubhouse is 27 years old and many parts of it have been replaced or had major maintenance. This past summer most of the drain pipes in the west end of the clubhouse were removed and replaced with new pipes. Shortly after this in early September, a natural gas odor was detected outside the west entrance to the clubhouse near the Pro Shop/Horizon Room stairway entry. The clubhouse was evacuated and Southwest Gas Company was immediately contacted and the gas shut off and gas meter removed from the clubhouse. The ground outside of the clubhouse was tested and found that there was a 93 percent saturation of gas in the soil. Air was injected into the ground and vacuumed out to clean out the saturated soil. Without gas, the clubhouse hot water boiler did not operate supplying hot water to the west end of the clubhouse including the Horizon Room. Without hot water the Horizon Room had to be closed until repaired. The City of Chandler inspectors and our contracted plumber inspected the area for the rerouting the gas line back into the clubhouse. The gas line was rerouted back into the clubhouse within a week’s time and clubhouse operations returned back to normal.
This year the Food and Beverage Committee has spent a great amount of time studying and analyzing the food and beverage operation of SunBird to find ways to better meet our vision and goals. As a start, Julie Mathis has joined the SunBird team as the new Food and Beverage Director of the Horizon Room. She has over 20 years of experience in all aspects of the food and beverage industry with several years in management. She brings great enthusiasm and new ideas to SunBird. Octavio Duran has also just joined the SunBird team as Kitchen Manager and Head Cook of the Horizon Room. He also has over 17 years food and beverage experience specializing in the “back of the house” operations with kitchen management and cooking. Come visit both of them in the Horizon Room and give them a great big SunBird welcome.
Due to the summer monsoon storms with heavy winds and rain, several common area trees blew over or were seriously damaged and had to be removed. Other trees that were found to be a potential hazard were also removed to prevent damage. About 80 trees have now been removed from the common landscape that were either blown over or were removed. Many of these trees were planted in areas too small to handle the size of these trees as they have matured over the years.
To improve the speed of communications this year, SunBird has been sending out notices by e-mail to those registered, information regarding current events and special notices related to SunBird. If you are not receiving these e-mail notices, please go to sunbirdhoa.com and register by clicking on the cartoon picture of the e-mail chimp (monkey) icon at the top of the page and follow the directions. This will enable you to start receiving these e-mails and keep up with the latest SunBird information. For more information or assistance, please contact the SunBird office.
The busy season is upon us with many SunBird residents returning back to SunBird for the great winter weather and fun activities. We look forward to another exciting season!