Each year, the Greater Houston Chapter of Community Associations Institute (CAI) holds a Trade Show to give managers and community leaders an opportunity to meet industry vendors. This year's show is on Friday, October 13, 2006 from 11:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. at the Sam Houston Race Park at 7575 North Sam Houston Parkway West (see map).

Nearly 100 organizations will have booths so you can wander, collect information and talk to the vendors. The businesses include pool companies, landscapers, banks, plumbers, general contractors, engineers, attorneys, lake maintenance services, security companies, park & play equipment suppliers, insurance agencies, trash collectors, software developers, municipal agencies and many more. Great door prizes provided by the vendors are given away throughout the day.

The Trade Show is free. You can pre-register on line at http://www.caihouston.org/events.asp or just fill out a brief form at the door. This is always a fun event and a nice way to spend a Friday afternoon.

For questions, email caistaff@caihouston.org or call the chapter office at 713-784-5462.

As we approach election day 2006, it is a good time to recall the law regarding political signs. In 2005, the Texas legislature passed House Bill 873 dealing with the regulation of political signs by community associations. It became effective immediately upon signing by Governor Perry on 6/18/05. The law protects political signs for candidates as well as ballot issues and overrides existing deed restrictions or rules regarding signage.

Any resident may install political signs on their property up to 90 days in advance of the election until 10 days after an election. From this year, it means sign could go up as early as 07/30/06 and may remain until 11/17/06. That is the 101 day protected window.

Within this window, the law does allow a community association some degree of regulation.  For example, a guideline can be established which limits political signs to one per candidate or ballot issue.  Signs can be restricted to 4’ by 6’ or smaller.  Signs can be restricted to ground mounting.  Offensive signs can be prohibited.  Signs with music, sounds, lighting, balloons or  streamers can be prohibited.  Associations can remove signs in violation of their legally-allowed guidelines.

Absent guidelines, however, this law is very broad in its protection — all political signs are protected in that 101 day period regardless of numbers, size or appearance.  Therefore, we believe it is extremely important that all associations adopt signage guidelines, file them in the county records and communicate them to all residents. Most of our communities did this in 2005.

We have prepared draft Guidelines for Political Signage for your consideration (click here to see a sample). Your community manager can help customize them for your needs.  You may want the association's attorney to review them before they are adopted.

Now get out and vote!

Three great seminars from our popular C.I.A. Services Seminar Series are coming up in October and November. Each seminar begins at 6:30 p.m. and runs 2-1/2 hours. Since we always provide deli sandwiches, 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 other reference materials.

This seminar is a must for all new Board members and a great refresher for seasoned veterans. It will help you get up to speed quickly by understanding your responsibilities and authorities. We'll review each of the documents that govern the way you do business. We'll give you an overview of collections, deed restrictions, architectural control, contracts, facilities, insurance, conduct of meetings, elections, communications and many other important topics.

• October 11, 2006 (Wednesday), 6:30 p.m. — Southwest Office
• October 19, 2006 (Thursday), 6:30 p.m. — North Office

This is the required training course for certification as a Community Website Administrator (CWSA) on the C.I.A Services web site. As a CWSA you'll be able to maintain the pages for your community. You'll be able to create news flashes, update key personnel, add community information, display photos, conduct surveys and much more. At the end of the seminar we'll give you a taste of HTML - the web language that will allow you to do some pretty advanced things if you like. Being a website administrator is very easy and you can do it from anywhere you have an internet connection.

• October 24, 2006 (Tuesday), 6:30 p.m. — North Office

If you don't know the difference between a vacuum breaker and a vacuum head and you're not comfortable wandering around a swimming pool pump room, then this seminar is for you. We'll review your major facilities and equipment including irrigation systems, pool mechanical equipment, gate operators and explain how they work (and fail). We'll move onto the essentials of bidding major contracts. After that we'll move to ongoing maintenance of landscaping, pools, tennis courts, buildings, fences and other common assets. When we're finished, you'll be talking like a skilled contractor!

• November 8, 2006 (Wednesday), 6:30 p.m. — Southwest Office
• November 14, 2006 (Tuesday), 6:30 p.m. — North Office

Please call our Southwest Office at 713-981-9000 or email us at seminars@ciaservices.com to register for any of the seminars. The complete list of seminars and descriptions are on the Library page of our web site or you can just click here to view the information.

After a long, hot summer, the Houston Aeros will finally open their season at home on October 7th. For die-hard hockey fans, it couldn't come soon enough. The Aeros have won the Turner Cup (in the IHL) and the Calder Cup (in the AHL) and is a perennial contender on the ice. Based on their preseason games, this is going to be another exciting season.

Our 9th annual C.I.A. Services Hockey Night with the Houston Aeros is set for Saturday, March 10th. Each year we invite all of our community board members and their families to join us to cheer on the Aeros. Many join us for a dinner before the game. We have lots of nice door prizes. The Aeros will take on their Western Conference rival the Peoria Rivermen. We'll mail out an official invitation in January. However, if you can't wait, feel free to reserve your tickets now by sending an email HockeyNight@ciaservices.com.

Hockey Night 2003		Hockey Night 2004
Hockey Night 2005		Hockey Night 2006

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 20 Community Managers write a nomination for one of their communities. We then read them all take a vote. Here are our most recent selections:

• October — Hunters Glen III Community Association
  Southwest Office — Myron Bruines, Community Manager
• September — Southdown Community Association
  Southwest Office — Libby Hodges, Community Manager
• August — Summerwood Community Association
  North Office — Brandy Berry, 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.

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 onboard in the last three months.

• Briargate Community Improvement Association — Southwest Office — Tina Jameson, Community Manager
• Bridgewater Community Association — Southwest Office — Libby Hodges, Community Manager
• Fairway Pointe Community Association — Southwest Office — Libby Hodges, Community Manager
• Homeowners Association of Eagle Point Estates — North Office — Evelyn Abram, Community Manager
• Telfair Community Council — Southwest Office — Ralph Troiano, Community Manager

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

• Indian Shores Property Owners Association — 19 years
• Indian Shores Community Services — 19 years
• Bowling Green Garden Homes — 18 years
• Ashcreek Homeowners Association — 16 years
• Kirkmont Section 2 Association — 13 years
• West Airport Homeowners Association — 13 years
• Traces II Community Improvement Association — 10 years
• Fairgreen Community Association — 9 years
• Heathlake Community Association — 7 years
• Belleau Wood Civic Club — 5 years
• Rivermist Homeowners Association — 3 years
• Summerwood Community 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.