2020 at The Resort:

A Conversation with George Igualt

By Dale Dauten

Of all the lighthearted comments made about this strange and trying year, these are my two favorites (both anonymous): First…

“2020 is like looking both ways before crossing the street

and then getting hit by an airplane.”

And, there’s this one on staying home and social distancing…

“Struck up a conversation with a spider today.

Seems nice.

He’s a web designer.”

Yes, it’s a better-to-laugh-than-cry kind of year. And it’s the time of year when it’s a good idea to check in on what’s going on at The Resort. So we sat down for a conversation with George Igualt, President of property management company McGill Investments. Here are the highlights:

What will the season look like? What activities will we available?

First, I want you to know that our Activities Director, Ann Christensen, is gung-ho and we want to have as full a schedule of activities as we can. (See her letter below for details.)

The safety of our residents and staff is, of course, our first priority. We’re getting guidance from the Governor’s Office, the County and the City of Mesa. Each have guidelines, and those can change, so we’re working at keeping up with them and following the templates. Our mantra is DO THE RIGHT THING. It’s just not worth it to force an event.

However, we are lucky that we have a lot of open space and big facilities. When we had a residents’ meeting a few months back we were able to have more than a hundred people and still keep everyone six feet apart.

We are now working with tennis and softball and other groups to figure out how to keep safe. For some events, we’ll have to limit the number of tickets, based on social distancing.

In short, we want to have as many as activities as we can, adjusting the capacity to be safe and to meet guidelines. Everything will be on a trial basis – that’s just the way things have to be right now.

Besides issues with covid, what’s been going on with the park over the summer?

When people come back this season, I think they’ll notice a change. We’ve been touching up the whole property. They’ll notice fresh paint — especially around the pool area and in places like the bike racks and shuffleboard benches — and restriping of the streets and some new awnings. Plus, we’ve done a big cleanup around the perimeter, and we’re bringing up the infrastructure.

I’m a believer that the property should be kept up all year round. I know that there are people who treat the winter season the way some people are about their homes – the ones who only clean up the house before company comes over. But we have more year-round residents now and we want a beautiful park for them; and, no matter when residents come to the park, I want them to see that their investment is being kept up.

Lastly, there are people who missed the management update meeting and who are wondering, what happened with the management of the parks, and how things are working now?

We redesigned our management structure to make it simpler and more responsive. With the other properties I’m responsible for, the structure has always been clear: There’s an Office Manager and a Maintenance Manager and those two are responsible for the park. That’s the way it is here now at The Resort.

The system works because it’s simple and clear. It’s like a hotel: if a light goes out in the bathroom, who do you call? You don’t call Mr. Hilton. You call the Front Desk. And they know exactly what to do to get the problem fixed. It’s the same here – you see something amiss, you let the folks at the Front Desk know and it gets fixed. Same with the renting of units or selling a unit or checking on availability for an RV – it’s all through the Front Desk.

I can tell you that the new streamlined management is working – most problems are taken care of the same day, or within a day or two.

GEORGE SENT US A FEW PAIRS OF “BEFORE & AFTER” PHOTOS TO ILLUSTRATE THE WORK BEING DONE, INCLUDING…