Happy New Year! 2017 is now here. December at SunBird was completely packed with activity and fun. Several Christmas and holiday events were held almost every day. This year SunBird had its first annual holiday home decorating contest that had some very nicely decorated homes. The winners were selected and pictures can be found in this issue of the SunBird News. The grand opening ceremony of the new bocce ball courts was held with a ribbon cutting ceremony. A nice sized crowd was gathered at the courts to learn and play bocce ball. January through the end of March are the highest population months of the year in SunBird. With this increased population, it’s hard to find parking at the Clubhouse with all this activity
Thanksgiving dinner prepared by the Horizon Room was superb again this year! We served over 638 people equating to 1,200 pounds of turkey, 800 pounds of mashed potatoes, 200 pies, 500 pounds of yams and all the other good food that accompanies. This surpassed last year’s record breaking service for Thanksgiving of 555 people by 83. Many nice compliments were made of the great food and service. Thank you to our Horizon Room restaurant staff for their hard work and dedication even on their own holiday.
Friday night Fish Fries have become so popular that we are now offering them every Friday from 3:00-6:00 p.m. Recently, the fish fry on a Friday night served 305 people. After each fish fry, either karaoke will begin or music for socializing, dancing and fun until 9:00 p.m. every Friday night. Trivia night has continued to stay busy with many teams competing each week to be the smartest in SunBird. With these popular events and more catering events, the business and use of the Horizon Room continues to grow.
Additional speakers were installed in the Ballroom this past month to increase the volume to the rear section for large events. The new speakers worked great for the SunBird Singers Holiday concert that filled the entire ballroom with wonderful songs and music.
This past November, Arizona voted to approve a couple of ballot measures that will affect many businesses in the state. One is that minimum wage will increase from $8.05 to $12 by 2020. Minimum wage effective January 1, 2017 increases $1.95 from the current $8.05 to $10 per hour, 2018 $10.50 per hour, 2019 $11.00 per hour and 2020 $12.00 per hour. Further, effective July 1, 2017, paid sick time accrual is mandatory for all employees. These changes will have a financial impact on many Arizona businesses and SunBird operational expense with many of our part-time and minimum wage employees.
A Maricopa County Health Inspector visited SunBird with a surprise inspection on a Saturday. The Horizon Room and Ballroom kitchen equipment and operations received an “A” rating. The inspection includes inspection of all the kitchen equipment for cleanliness, refrigerators and freezers for correct temperatures, all food quality and etc., employee operations and practices, and other items. This same Saturday also happened to be the same time as baked goods were being sold in the Ballroom with another event. Although no violations were noted, some additional instructions were made concerning baked items sold in the Ballroom for the future.
During the month of January the past year’s financial reports and tax statements will be prepared and completed. The annual independent financial audit also begins in January to review the year 2016 accounting procedures, practices, bank statements and multiple transactions for compliance and accuracy. The final audit report will be completed just prior to the annual meeting this March with the results to be presented to the membership.
The year 2016 was successful with many improvements, great activities and plans made for the future. We look forward to another fun filled year! Thank you for all of your help and support in making SunBird a great place to live!