Management Certificates

One of the two bills affecting property owners associations which passed during the 81st session of the Texas legislature deals with the information on management certificates (SB-1919). Under Texas Property Code chapter 209.004, since January 1, 2002, every property owners association has been required to file a management certificate in the public records of the county in which the community lies. The new law makes two minor changes to the content of the certificate.

However, the law now has significant penalties for not filing an updated management certificate in compliance with the law. First, if a sale occurs, the title company, lender and purchaser are not liable for any amount due to the association as of the sale date. And second, any lien on the property as of the sale date is only enforceable on amounts incurred after the date of sale. These penalties could have a significant financial impact on properties being sold with delinquent amount on the account.

C.I.A. Services will be preparing and filing new management certificates for all of our communities in advance of when the laws becomes effective on September 1st. The deadline for updating certificates to be in compliance with the law is actually May 1, 2010 but we want to make sure they are filed early.

National Night Out

This year will be the 26th anniversary of National Night Out. NNO is a unique crime/drug prevention event sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch. Last year's National Night Out campaign involved citizens, law enforcement agencies, civic groups, businesses, neighborhood organizations and local officials from over 10,000 communities from all 50 states, U.S. territories, Canadian cities and military bases worldwide. In all, over 34 million people participated in National Night Out 2008.

It's our chance to take a bite out of crime by getting to know your neighbors and keeping an eye out for suspicious activity around the neighborhood. Community associations can facilitate getting residents involved. You can coordinate a NNO event at a central location in your community with simple refreshments like hotdogs or pizza. Or you can have a grand party with moonwalks, games, food booths and guest speakers. Or you can encourage neighbors to put on their own block parties. Local law enforcement agencies can be very helpful in coordinating NNO events. Police officers and elected officials enjoy visiting NNO events throughout the community so let them know where you will be and they will come.

NNO is traditionally held on the 1st Tuesday of August. However, it is so hot here in August that Texas does it two months later on Tuesday, October 6, 2009. That gives us a couple extra months to plan - the kids will be back in school and the weather will be cooler.

For more information and ideas, visit the National Night Out website at http://www.nationaltownwatch.org/nno/.

Upcoming Seminars

We're taking a summer break in July as we prepare the 2009/2010 seminar series schedule. Our C.I.A. Services Seminar Series will be entering its 7th year with seven great seminars concentrating on the practical aspects of each topic to provide board members with background knowledge to help them in their decision making.

• Advanced Topics for Board Members (June)
• Board Member Orientation (April & October)
• Essentials of Architectural Control (May)
• Facilities, Contracts & Maintenance (November)
• Practical Deed Restrictions Management (March)
• The Super Budgeting Process (August & September)
• Understanding Collections & Financial Reports (February)

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.

The new seminar series schedule will be mailed to all board members later this month and posted on our website. We hope every community will take advantage of our seminars starting with the upcoming Super-Budgeting sessions.

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:

• July - Oyster Point Homeowners Association
  Southwest Office - Leslie Baldwin, Community Manager
• June - Summerwood Community Association
  North Office - Laura Tate, Community Manager
• May - Heather Ridge Homeowners Association
  North Office - Kim Easterling, 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 July.

• East Point Community Association — 19 years
• Inwood Northwest Neighborhood Association — 8 years
• Royal Palms Homeowners Association — 5 years

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.

• Cypresswood Green Property Owners Association - North Office - Renea Miksch, Community Manager

Employee Spotlight

• Welcome to two new administrative assistants at our Southwest Office who joined us in June: Patricia Mosher and Dannielle Chiodi-Jones.
• We are pleased to welcome back to Oralia Kalil as an administrative assistant at our Southwest Office. She previously worked for C.I.A. Services for several years doing inspections and processing home improvement requests.
• And Patty Thedford has joined us as an onsite administrative assistant for the Cinco Ranch Residential Association II. Patty works at the community's Lake House with community coordinator Jessica Davis, who just celebrated her 1 year anniversary with us.

Patricia Mosher		Dannielle Chiodi-Jones

Oralia Kalil		PattyThedford