July/August 2025 Newsletter

July 15, 2025    Latest News, News   

“My Favorite Part of the Job”

A Conversation with George Igualt

By Dale Dauten

“Excellence is not a destination, it’s a continuous journey.”

Brian Tracy
If you visit the office of George Igualt, the head of the management company that oversees Silveridge, you find a large table that takes up one side the room. On it are multiple stacks of papers and many of those stacks represent some difficulty that has found its way to George. Asked about them, George just shrugged and said, “A lot of my job is making decisions about problems that have come up.” Then he lit up, smiling, and added, “But, my favorite part of the job is thinking about how we could be better.” It’s the summer, the off-season in the desert, when George gets to see the plans implemented, saying, “Every year we are improving the properties. Every year we want to make things better for our residents.”

 

For starters, George lit up talking about Susan York and her work. You’ll remember that Susan was Activities Director the season before last. She’s back this season, but as the park Manager, and George explained why he’s so glad to have her back: “I’ve hired a lot of people for a lot of jobs and I’ve learned that while you can train someone to do a job, what you can’t train them to do is to care. Susan lives at The Resort. She’s led the Activities team. She cares about the people and the park. She cares.” George pointed out that one way that passion has already expressed itself in her new role as Manager has been with the park office: “Susan came to me and suggested that redo the office area. She just took it on. Turns out, her secret passion is interior design and she showed me photos from what she’s done, and wow is she good. Plus, she is super-resourceful. She’s adding new art – original art by her – and it’s amazing the transformation that taking shape.”

 

(We asked Susan if she’d like to include photos of the office refresh; but, she explained that she isn’t ready for the big reveal – there are still pieces of the project coming together. Maybe the September 1st issue?)

 

As for other places around the park:

George encouraged residents to check out the ballroom floor as it’s “being brought back to new.”

 

One project that is getting a lot of attention is the Tennis Office. It’s housed in a small park model that had grown a bit weary over the years, so much so that it’s gotten new windows, flooring and stucco, to go along with the new roof installed last year.

 

There is also new, lighted signage going in at the park entrance, which you can see in the photo at the top and in the closer one below.
Plus there’s one of those small projects that’s destined to be overlooked by most: “There’s a spot near the entrance where there was a gravel incline,” George explained. “It isn’t meant to be a walkway, but people end up walking there. So we overhauled it and put in pavers.”

 

And, it seems like every update on work around the park includes something about the softball field, and this time it’s the dirt, as George told us:

 

“I’ve learned a lot about dirt. I went to what amounts to Dirt School. There’s a company out in Glendale that supplies it and they have classes. I was there with professional groundskeepers, people from colleges that have ball fields, and even people from the pros, the Angels and the A’s. And we learned that the best infield is a combination of clay, sand and dirt. And that it regularly needs to be replaced. So now we’re taking out the top couple of inches and replacing it. And then we’re also adding additional fencing to protect spectators from line-drive foul balls.”

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”

Robert Collier

 

In addition to the specific new projects described above, there are, of course, all the lesser ones that keep up The Resort’s standard: Most importantly for the appearance of the park, the off-season is when the parking areas are maintained and the endless landscaping work is undertaken.

 

George concluded by saying, “I always hope that it cools off early enough that we can get the winter lawns in before our winter residents start returning. Nighttime temperatures determine when we can overseed the winter grass; and, if all goes well, the winter lawns are up and are that beautiful green color, and all the flowers are in, all before it’s time to hang the WELCOME banner.”