Legislative Update

The 81st session of the Texas legislature adjourned on June 1st. Because several important bills were not passed by both the House and Senate, there is a possibility that Governor Perry will call the legislature into special session. The Texas legislature meets every two years. In 2007, the legislature concluded without a special session but in 2005 the governor called 3 special sessions and in 2003, 4 special sessions!

With dozens of high profile issues facing the legislature such as the state budget, voter ID, child health care, state university admissions and TxDOT funding, it is not surprising that bills affecting property owners associations receive less attention and priority. In our April issue of eNews Monthly, we provided a short summary of 46 bills affecting property owners associations. There are seven stages before a bill becomes law. Here is the scorecard as of the end of the regular session.

• 23 bills finished at stage 1 - they were filed but not referred to a committee or voted out of committee
• 6 bills finished at stage 2 - they were approved by a House committee but not calendered for a House vote
• 1 bill finished at stage 3 - it was passed by the House but not considered by the Senate committee
• 13 bills finished at stage 4 - they were approved by the House or Senate and by the other body's committee but not calendered for a final vote
• 0 bills finished at stage 5 - in this stage, a bill would have passed both the House and the Senate
• 0 bills finished at stage 6 - in this stage, a bill would have been passed to the Governor for signature, veto or no action
• 2 bills finished at stage 7 - they have been signed by the Governor and will become law on 9/1/09

The two bills signed into law were SB-1918 and SB-1919 introduced by Senator Royce West of Dallas. Both bills passed unanimously through both the House and the Senate and deal with resale certificates and management certificates. Associations are required to provide a resale certificate if requested by a home seller that can be provided to a potential home buyer. The certificate provide information about the community, its governing documents, assessments, financial condition, insurance and information about the specific property. Each association must file a management certificate in the county public records which lists the contact information for the association and the governing documents which place obligations on owners.

You can read about these bills and more on the Texas legislative website http://www.legis.state.tx.us/. The site has easy to understand descriptions of the legislative process and provides information about your own elected officials.

New Graduate

With graduations everywhere in May, it is appropriate that we have another board member who has graduated from the C.I.A. Services seminar series. We are very pleased to congratulate Debra James form the Vicksburg Community Association. Debra completed all seven seminars in the C.I.A. Services seminar series when she attended Essentials of Architectural Control in May. Debra has served on the Vicksburg board since 2006 and is currently Secretary. She is the second graduate from Vicksburg - President MaryLee Vandervoort completed the seminars in November 2005.

Pictured above are fellow students from the Essentials of Architectural Control seminar (from left): Lynn Marie Thompson (Marina Bay Park), Barbara Giordanelli (The Highlands), Debra James (Vicksburg), Al McDonald (The Highlands) and Carol Ledergerber (Bay Pointe).

Congratulations to Debra on her graduation. We know she will enjoy the get-away gift that we give to all graduates.

Upcoming Seminars

The final seminar for our 6th year of the C.I.A. Services Seminar Series is coming up in June. We have seven great seminars in the series with each seminar concentrating on the practical aspects of the topic to provide board members with background knowledge to help them in their decision making. We consistently receive positive feedback on the content and presentation. To view the seminar descriptions and full schedule, click here or visit the Library page of our website.

Each seminar begins at 6:00 p.m. and runs 2 hours. We provide deli sandwiches so you won't have to rush to eat dinner beforehand.  You'll leave with knowledge you can use immediately and a great notebook with the seminar slides, samples and reference materials for your future reference and to share with others.

Advanced Topics for Board Members After you've been on the Board a few months or a few years, you realize that some things are pretty complicated. This seminar has a heavy legal and legislative orientation. We'll dissect the lawsuit process, review foreclosures and bankruptcies, and discuss significant portions of the Texas Property Code and federal law. After all the legal stuff, we'll touch on aspects of “risk management” which includes insurance, reserves and budgeting concepts. June 4, 2009 (Thursday), 6:00 p.m. — Southwest Office June 23, 2009 (Tuesday), 6:00 p.m. — North Office

You can register at any time by calling 713-981-9000 or emailing seminars@ciaservices.com.

Next month, we'll announce the schedule for the 2009/2010 seminars that begin in August.

Community of the Month

We are proud of every one of our communities so it is always hard to find just one to highlight. We start by having each of our Community Managers write a nomination for one of their communities. We then read them and take a vote. Here are our most recent selections:

• June - Summerwood Community Association
  North Office - Laura Tate, Community Manager
• May - Heather Ridge Homeowners Association
  North Office - Kim Easterling, Community Manager
• April - Heron Nest Owners Association
  North Office - Annette Escarenio, Community Manager

To see the full story on these communities and to see the past winners, visit the Community of the Month page on our web site.

Anniversaries

Every month we appreciate the communities that are celebrating their anniversaries with us. Here are the clients that started with us in June.

• Oak Cliff Place Homeowners Association — 17 years
• Atascocita North Community Improvement Association — 15 years
• Vicksburg Community Association — 13 years
• Copper Creek Community Improvement Association — 12 years
• Frostwood Community Improvement Association — 12 years
• Sablechase II Homeowners Association — 7 years
• Sablechase II Maintenance Association — 7 years
• Silvercreek Community Association — 3 years
• Telfair Community Association — 3 years
• Kenswick Trace Homeowners Association — 1 year

Our goal has always been to create a positive, long term relationship with all of our client communities. We are very proud to be managing all of these communities.

New Communities

C.I.A Services continues to grow as more communities hear about our unique approach to community association management. We would like to welcome our newest clients that have come on board in the last three months.

• Brays Forest Patio Homes - Southwest Office - Tony Victorino, Community Manager
• Cypresswood Green Property Owners Association - North Office - Renea Miksch, Community Manager

Employee Spotlight

• Congratulations to Gloria Bell on her 20 year anniversary with C.I.A. Services. Gloria is a stockholder at our North Office providing a variety of staff support.
• We are sad to see her go but very happy for her: Carol Harrison, a stockholder and administrative assistant at our North Office is retiring this month. Carol joined our team in February 2003 as an Administrative Assistant. She plans to spend a lot of time enjoying her grandchildren and traveling.
• Thank you to Renea Miksch and Ralph Troiano for presenting our new seminar in May, Essentials of Architectural Control. Both sessions had a good student turn-out.
• Welcome to three new employees at our North Office: Carol Girdy, Colline Chavera and Larry Norwood.
• Our Bandera Office is celebrating its one year anniversary this month. The office opened for business on June 30, 2008.

Gloria Bell		Carol Harrison

Renea Miksch		Ralph Troiano

Carol Girdy		Colline Chavera		Larry Norwood

Bandera Office