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FROM THE BOARD

The DAOA BOD would like to thank everyone who engaged in the Security ballot process! There were many excellent questions, feedback, and participation during our Board of Director meetings, the two Q & A sessions held October 5th @ 9:00 am and October 8th @ 6:00 pm and during the Special Session October 19th @ 9:00 am! We received an amazing number of Ballots this time=514!! We will be now asking for formal bids from the companies we interviewed and selecting one soon. We will be sharing this criterion once again with you and any new information as we receive it.
See Something, Say Something and Know Your Neighbors are KEY cornerstone safety programs already implemented by our Safety and Security Committee for our community! Please participate in the process of reporting, as the data collected builds the need for increased presence by Grant County Sheriff Office and Animal Control.
When you see something suspicious;

1.) Please call Grant County MACC (509)762-1160 to report personal, property or pet safety issues. The dispatcher can assess the level of emergency and where to forward the call.

2.) Ask for an incident number (write it down) and a call back from the deputy or agency.

3.)When the deputy or agency calls you back, please also write down their name and ask for their cell phone number to follow up with them.

4.) If you don’t receive a return call or any follow up as requested, please call/email the DAOA office and let them know your contact details, the information you wrote down and the DAOA office team will forward this information to the DAOA Board of Directors to follow up on. Also, you can email the Board of Director; [email protected].

Know Your Neighbor program is also a great way to watch out for each other, take in/out garbage cans, collect packages off porches while neighbors are at work/away for a few examples. Please consider knocking on your neighbor’s door or engaging them when you see them to exchange contact information, addresses, and set up an informal or formal block watch to keep each other safe!
 

Board of Directors
Darci Ulin             exp 2026
President
Matt Yanak            exp 2026
Vice President
Keith Savisky        exp 2025
Treasurer
Mark Pierce           exp 2026
Secretary
Steve Nuce            exp 2025
Director

 

Business Office
Holiday Hours

 

EMAIL: when you add or update your email with us, be sure to tell us what lists you want to be on. Home Owners (if applicable), Renters, Golfer, Tournament Golfer or all.
MEMBER CHARGING is an option for those on AUTOPAY!
If your account has been current AND you sign up for auto pay …you can charge at all facilities with your Member Card.
REMINDERS
Garbage Service is available through Waste Management of Ellensburg at (800) 572-4559. For non-full-time residents they even offer a roll out service with a nominal fee. *Please remember to store your cans securely out of sight on non-dump days.
Desert Aire is an Animal Control area, so pets must be contained to your property or on a leash at all times.
PARKS & GREENBELTS
We have been locking the park at dusk since late August. Later this year we will continue with greenbelt cleanup in areas we haven’t been previously.
We are also reviewing greenbelt/common areas around the golf course for license agreements to ensure these areas are in compliance.
 
 

GOLF COURSE & PRO SHOP
Many of the fall programs have been completed such as aerifying, fertility applications, etc. and the irrigation systems will be winterized on Tuesday November 12th. (see Shawn's article for more info)
We will be doing an online survey soon to gather feedback on our operations from the season. What are we doing better or worse and ideas
REMEMBER, you can also follow us on Facebook for information and upcoming events at: Desert Aire Owners Association and/or Desert Aire Golf Course
Best wishes for the upcoming holiday season.

 

Watermaster Report – Chris Guillen

The Water Department will be starting to work on insulating the meters around town.  This insolation is to keep the meters from freezing.  This will be on going for the next couple of months as we read meters.  We use high density foam for our insulation, this is to keep down on bugs and the moisture doesn’t affect it.  We will also start to work on our valve exercising program.  This is to insure when and if we to shut off an area we will be able to.  This process involves using a machine that counts the turns and turns the valve at high torque.
With the weather starting to get cool, the Water Department would like to remind owners to make sure their homes are properly winterized.  Here is a list of some things to consider:

• All hoses should be removed from all faucets, even if it is a frost free. 
• Be sure that your irrigation system has been properly drained/blown out.
• Be sure that when the irrigation is shut off, the shut off valve is in the correct off position
• Be sure all vents on your home are closed and/or sealed. 
• Shut off your water in your home if you are gone for an extended period of time to minimize any damage.  

If you are gone for an extended period of time the Water Department can shut off your water at the meter for $5.00, this will not stop pipes from breaking but it will not flood your home. 
Just as a reminder, the water policy effective August 1^st 2009, states members are not to access the meter boxes in any way or they will be subject to the enforcement mechanisms of the policy.  
All samples taken have been good.  We are currently at 1,317 connections to the water system.  The total year to date gallons produced for the overall domestic water system is 271,604,253.


PRO SHOP NEWS – Kyle Preston, PGA Professional The season is winding down a bit, but we have still had some beautiful weather lately and the course looks amazing. Make sure to get out and play before it gets too cold! We just wrapped up our last event of the year which was the 2024 Fall Best Ball/Chapman. This was a 2-day event and it went great. We had 39 of our members playing and 41 guest for a total of 80 players. This was a good jump in participation from last year, and we hope to get even more next year. In the coming month we will have a couple of things you will want to look out for. We will be sending out a survey for input on the golf operations for the 2024 season. This is for the Golf Course only. Some topics addressed in the survey are Tournament Operations, Tee Sheet Utilization, and Overall Golf Operations. I am happy with the year we had; but would love to hear feedback on how we can continue and grow our success. We will also be having a sale in the Pro Shop all of November. Discounts will be set by category of item, and I will post these on our Facebook page. One thing we look to improve on next year will be our staffing. I am looking to fill several positions to help the golf operation run smoother. These positions include golf shop assistant, marshals, and hopefully an Assistant Golf Professional. If you, or someone you know may be interested in one of these positions please email me at [email protected]. We hope to get to see you all for some more rounds of golf this year. For those that have already left, or are soon to be leaving for the winter, we want to thank you for a wonderful 2024 season and can’t wait to see you back next year!

 

GOLF COURSE SUPERINTENDENT REPORT – Shawn Hocking We are definitely in the fall of the year; days are cooler, the weekly maintenance is slower, and our golf events are finished for the year. Now, our focus is moving to projects that we have been saving for this time of the year. At the park, we are planning to do several projects, like adding some irrigation to pick up some dry spots and making a few areas easier for maintenance. We will be stripping sod to reduce string trimming and using it in other areas at the park and doing some minor landscaping. The equipment will be getting inspected, and anything that needs repaired will be worked on. Irrigation and landscape work was started last winter and spring at the DA entrance and we plan to continue the work. Basically, this will be mostly landscaping and possibly planting trees. There are low spots to fill and sod or seed to finish leveling the ground. We will need to raise and level any settled sprinklers and valve boxes and other minor irrigation work. Since most of our crucial fall work is finished on the golf course, we have a few irrigation projects we are looking to complete, sod projects along cart paths, and other smaller projects that require a little time. Our fall fertilizing has begun and should be completed over the next couple weeks. In addition to all the above, we will be replacing the doors on the front nine restrooms, so we can automate the locking and unlocking of them. As we finish the front nine restrooms, we will evaluate and continue with the other restrooms on the course. is Lastly, we will begin planning for this fall and winters greenbelt cleanup work and areas to begin. It a multi-year project that we will be systematically working through. I would like to give a special thanks to all those who have provided lunches, cookies, and other treats to our crew to show appreciation for the work we do. Our crew takes a lot of pride in what we do, and we feel very appreciated. Thank you so much! As we wrap up the year and are going through the winter months, I am hopeful that we can finish some lingering projects and make a positive impact on DA properties. 


PARKS & RECREATION COMMITTEE— Brent Sprague We are proud to be planning for Thanksgiving and the 2nd annual Turkey Trot 5k run. This will be held Saturday, November 30th. Registration can be done in the office and possibly online. Registration on Saturday will start at 9:00 am and the race will start at 10:00 am. It will be $20 w/shirt and $15 without. Please register early, if possible. We have put three new pieces of equipment in the Gym. They are a Technogym total ab machine & a low back machine and a Stairmaster unit. We are planning on doing the Penguin Bowling on New Years Day, so let’s all hope for snow as I’m sure it will be more fun that way. ARCHITECTURAL

COMMITTEE—Geoff Orwiler Please remember that you must submit and have an approved Architectural Application prior to commencement of any work. Grant County will no longer grant any permits unless you have an approved Architectural Permit from Desert Aire.
SECURITY AND SAFETY COMMITTEE – Steve Nuce Fall is upon us and there continues to be a great deal of activities moving rapidly in the area of security and safety in Desert Aire. It has been amazing to see all the volunteers and Property Owners step up and get engaged and participate. FIREWISE will continue to be an increased focus area this Fall and Winter with grounds crew working a multiyear plan to address our greenbelts and common areas. The goal is to keep the grounds crew busy as the seasonal workload decreases. As you know by now the Property Owners approved the security assessment to fund a dedicated patrol for 40 hours a week. As we have been sharing, the Improved Security Plan is a multi-tier approach which includes locking the park at dusk. Additional lighting in the park with motion sensors that change lighting from 30% to 100% when motion is detected. See Something Say Something which is very important to call Grant County Sheriff’s Office so the concerns are documented, we will be asking the County for a record of all calls on a monthly basis to understand trends and share with Property Owners. Know Your Neighbor which is a key tenant in our
approach, community members who know their neighbors will spot concerns that need attention. Bring in their garbage cans when left at the street, drive your car when it snows to show activity. Having 514 Property Owners vote on the assessment is a clear message that this is a very important concern. The ballot didn’t pass by very many votes and that is a very important message, we need to manage the contract and take action to ensure it is successful. The Board is working through and will share the selection criteria and which company will be awarded the contract over the next few weeks. If there are any questions concerning the programs, please reach out to the DAOA Board. It takes a village to protect the village.

 


COMMUNICATION COMMITTEE—Darci Ulin DAOA WEBSITE IMPROVEMENT UPDATES— Member login side of our website; Jesenia has meeting minutes loaded for SSC, Board, Architectural, working with Darci & Jesenia working on meeting minutes for Parks & Recreation, Communication and working with Kyle on Golf Committee ✓ Reminder to Owners; please check the calendar on the DAOA member login page, for short term scheduling changes, upcoming meetings and events! ✓ if you have difficulty logging into the member login page and you are an owner on the title/ deed for your property, please call the DAOA office so they can walk you through the process. CONTACT INFORMATION FOR DAOA Homeowners—working on getting updated emails, mailing addresses and phone numbers for ALL owners. If you aren’t receiving mail or emails or wish to be added (each person has to be on title/ deed as per WA St RCW’s), please call the DAOA office. NEW EMPHASIS; When Owners are coming into the office, office staff are asking all the Owners to verify their contact information. The DAOA office is tracking the number of emails opened during the email blast messaging. The number of emails opened is up to 50% which is up from 20-30% previously.

Desert Aire is an Animal Control area so pets must be contained to your property or on a leash at all times.

 

Business Office  
509-932-4839
Mon – Fri 8:00 am – 5:00 pm

James Curdy, General Manager     ext. 100
Sarah Spurr, Accounts Payable       ext. 101
Tracey Hockman, Payroll Clerk    ext. 102
Jesenia Rodriguez, Receptionist    ext. 103
Pedro Hernandez, Code Compliance ext. 109
Water Department
Chris Guillen, Watermaster ext. 104
Water Emergency 509-830-4332
Swimming Pool ext. 108
Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day
weekend (10:00 am-8:00 pm 7 days a week)
Golf Pro Shop 509-932-4439
Kyle Preston, PGA Professional ext. 106
River View Café 509-932-1988
Open late April through early October
open additional hours on Holidays
Thursday 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Friday/Saturday 7:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Sunday 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

 

Village Extras!!

Lots of activities are going on at Desert Aire.  This new feature highlights these going-ons that are of interest to our owners.

Country Club Happenings
As the season winds down and the snow birds head south, Desert Aire Country Club would like to thank everybody who participated in our events.  Our goal is to provide golf and social events for everyone to enjoy and have fun.  We wanted to let everybody know that you don’t have to be a golfer to join.  It is available for anybody in the community to join. All is welcome and we would love to have you.
In September we crowned our new Desert Aire Country Club Champions:

Patrick Olson – Men’s Club Champion
Gary Bradley- Senior Men’s Champion
Sharon Bradley- Ladies Club Champion

Congratulations to the winners and to all that came out to play.
We just completed The Frostbite in early October.  It was a beautiful fall day and we had 27 teams participate. Fun was had by all.
Our final event for the year is the Hawktoberfest on Sunday October 27^th.  Everyone is welcome to come down to the clubhouse and watch the Seattle Seahawks take on the Buffalo Bills. You can sign up to enter the soup and/or bread contest. There is no charge for this event.
We look forward to next year and hope everybody has a safe and happy winter.  Keep your eyes peeled for the 2025 Membership registration form, its coming soon.
THANK YOU FROM ALL OF US ON THE DESERT AIRE COUNTRY CLUB BOARD!!!
 

 
 



IMPORTANT DATES: All meetings (held via Zoom, login information is available on the website member page, unless stated otherwise) and owners are encouraged to attend.

Desert Aire Board of Directors – Held the 3^rd Thursday of each month (except December) at 6:00 PM.
Architectural Committee - Meets the 2^nd and 4^th Thursday of each month at 3:00 PM. (Except in November and December, when they meet only on the 2^nd Thursday).

Golf Committee – Meets the 1st Wednesday of each month at 3:00 PM.
Parks and Recreation Committee – Meets the 1^st Wednesday of each month at 5:00 PM.
Communications Committee – Meets the 2^nd Tuesday each month at 3:30 PM.
Security & Safety Committee - Meets the 2^nd Wednesday of each month at 6:00 PM
Desert Aire Airport Commissioners - Meets the 3^rd Thursday of each month at 4:00 PM.