CCUCA Trade Show

"May the Force Be With You" is the theme for this year's Cypress Creek United Civic Associations (CCUCA) seminars and trade show. This is the 23rd year for this great event for Board members and other community volunteers. CCUCA does an excellent job at pulling together experts in homeowners associations to present numerous seminars in a format that runs from early Saturday morning until mid afternoon. There is a continental breakfast and a great lunch where you can mingle with board members from many other communities. This years event is on Saturday, February 28th.

Click here to see the announcement with the seminar schedule and speakers. Dan Parsons, President of the Houston Better Business Bureau, will be the lunch guest speaker. This years seminar topics include:

• New board member workshop (presented by a management company)
• Deed restriction enforcement (presented by an attorney)
• Eco-friendly landscaping (presented by a environmental planner)
• Creating and amending deed restrictions (presented by an attorney)
• Association insurance (presented by an insurance expert)
• Coping with economic downturn (presented by former director of Houston Proud)
• Deed restriction enforcement for volunteers (presented by DR committee volunteers)
• Financial asset protection (presented by a CPA)
• Working as a team (presented by an attorney)

C.I.A. Services has always been an active participant in this trade show by having a great booth and presenting seminars. You can view our seminars from last year online by visiting the Library page of our web site or clicking the links below.

• Board Member Orientation
• Advanced Topics for Board Members
• Practical Deed Restriction Management

For more information about CCUCA and the trade show, visit www.ccuca.org.

Hockey Night Times Two

Our 11th Annual Hockey Night with the Houston Aeros will be on February 21st. We'll cheer on the Aeros as they face league newcomer, the Iowa Chops. This is going to be an exciting game. The race to the playoffs continues to get more interesting in our division. The Aeros have slipped to 4th place out of 8 teams in the division and only 4 make it into the Calder Cup play-offs. At 53 points, the Chops are just 1 point ahead of us. And the 5th and 6th place teams are within 2 points of the Aeros. This will be a crucial game and the Aeros need our cheering. History is on our side - the Aeros have won 9 of 10 games on C.I.A. Services Hockey Night!

And to commemorate the opening of our Bandera Office in the Texas hill country, we are particularly pleased to begin a new tradition: our 1st Annual Hockey Night with the San Antonio Rampage. On March 7th, we'll help the Rampage kick ice against a perennial powerhouse the Grand Rapids Griffins. We're hoping a few of our die-hard Houston Hockey Night fans will join us to show San Antonio how to have a good time at a hockey game. The Rampage season has been strange. They started off the season setting an American Hockey League record for futility - the Rampage lost 17 in a row to start the season with 2 wins and 21 losses. Then after their 11/29/08 loss to Houston, something happened to make them the hottest team in the league - they have had 19 wins and 9 losses since then. They are still occupying the basement of the division but only 9 points from a playoff spot.

Each year in Houston, we invite 500 of our community volunteers, employees and friends to join us to watch the Houston Aeros play a division rival. We'll have lots of door prizes, our collectible cowbells and programs for hockey newcomers. Everyone has a great time watching a fast-paced and really cool game. Our Hockey Night in San Antonio will be smaller but every bit as fun. Click the photos below to see fun from the last few years.

This year at our Houston Hockey Night, we have a special treat for children 5 to 13 years old. During the second intermission, 20 children will get to go down on the ice after the charity "chuck-a-puck" and help pick up all of the pucks. They will be on the ice with mascot Chilly and the Aero Dynamics looking up at the thousands of fans in the stands.

2003	2004
2005	2006
2007	2008

Invitations for Houston were mailed in January and invitations for San Antonio are being mailed this month. So mark your calendars for February 21st in Houston and March 7th in San Antonio. If you can join us, please reserve your tickets by sending an email to HockeyNight@ciaservices.com.

What a Busy Year

This year C.I.A. Services is celebrating our 25th anniversary managing community associations. And 2008, the end of our first quarter century, was very busy. We settled into our new North Office, we opened our Bandera Office and we took many steps on our Pathway to the Future described in prior issues of eNews Monthly. And we also did a lot of routine business for all of our clients.

• In 2008, our maintenance coordinators issued and tracked 4,541 work orders and projects for our communities (down from 5,191 in 2007). That is an average of 18 per workday. A work order can be anything from having a sign fabricated & installed to developing specifications & soliciting bids for a contract to having a swimming pool resurfaced. Each work order includes a large amount of communication with contractors in advance and as follow-up. That is an impressive amount of work.
• In 2008, our home improvement coordinators processed 4,422 home improvement and new construction requests for our communities (up from 4,150 in 2007). Many requests entail multiple communications with the homeowner to ensure that the request is complete before passing on to the ACC for a decision. Each request finishes with a letter to the homeowner documenting the decision.
• In 2008, our bookkeepers prepared 11,521 checks for our communities (up from 11,119 in 2007). That is an average of 46 per workday. It takes great organization skills to coordinate that many bills with due dates and Board meetings. All that while keeping impeccable records that CPA auditors love to see.
• In 2008, our community managers, administrative assistants and inspectors tracked and resolved 87,365 deed restriction violations (up from 63,514 in 2007) by issuing 81,959 letters. Our deed restriction management efforts continued to be successful with 83% of all violations getting resolved before a certified letter was needed.
• In 2008, our high speed office equipment got a real workout with our clerical staff assembling 3,500 board packages, making over 600,000 copies and mailing approximately 450,000 items. Wow! We are actually pleased that these numbers are all down from 2007 because of our efforts to reduce paper through imaging. We imaged approximately 350,000 pages in 2008 and will double than number in 2009.
• And not to be outdone, in December alone, our administrative assistants and accounting staff received and deposited $5,584,579 in assessments including $2,587,262 in the last five workdays of the year! January has been even bigger with $7,232,374 deposited.

We are looking forward to another very busy year in 2009!

Project Highlight
Oyster Point Clubhouse Facelift

During the Annual Meeting in January 2008, residents of Oyster Point expressed concerns regarding the clubhouse interior condition and overall landscaping. The beautiful clubhouse was built in 1991 and was showing it's age. Oyster Point is a small community with 116 custom homes in First Colony that is surrounded on three sides by Oyster Creek. The clubhouse was designed to look like a custom home with lush landscaping. Behind the clubhouse, on the generous lot backing up to Oyster Creek, are a swimming pool, playground and twin tennis courts which are not visible from the street.

The Board of Directors then took this feedback and developed a plan to complete a “Clubhouse Facelift”. First, a landscape committee was organized to make recommendations on the clubhouse landscaping improvements; including removal of 6 large Magnolia trees which allowed the clubhouse to be more visible from Oyster Point Drive. The committee also recommended all landscaping in front of the clubhouse to be removed and replaced with new landscaping. In the middle of the circle drive, the committee recommended adding dirt and sod, along with a row of striking knock-out roses, to create an attractive, upscale look.

Next, C.I.A. Services assisted the Board in developing a plan to renovate the exterior of the clubhouse. The Board hired a professional engineer to recommend the best approach for the revising the back balcony. The Board hired Wilson’s Building Services to install new siding, roofing and pressure washing the driveways and parking lot. The clubhouse exterior project was completed with a fresh new coat of paint.

Upgrades continue with the The Board selecting new living room furniture to replace the outdated style currently in the clubhouse. All residents have been pleased with the exterior improvements and look forward to using and showing their "new" clubhouse.

Legislative Update

The Texas legislature meets every two years and convened its 81st session on January 13th and will be in session for 140 days until June 1st. Several bills have been filed which deal with property owners associations (POAs). Please refer to last month's eNews Monthly for a summary of the bills filed in advance of the opening session.

Two additional bills have since been filed as described below. Texas has a great website for viewed proposed legislation and tracking its progress during the session. Visit 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.

• HB-798 by Eddie Lucio (Cameron County) is virtually identical to HB-25 (David Leibowitz, San Antonio), SB-236 (Royce West, Dallas) and SB-403 (Jim Jackson, Dallas) which would add section 202.008/010 to the Texas Property Code and not allow a POA to prohibit or restrict an owner from installing a solar energy panel except in limited circumstances. If the filing activity is any indication, we should expect this to become law. It is an appropriate law in these changing times and community associations must develop guidelines for its residents to encourage solar panels while maintaining the appearance of the community.
• HB-1006 by Vicki Truitt (Tarrant County) is a great bill for associations in response to last session's revisions to the state franchise tax. For those associations not exempt from the franchise tax, the bill allows associations to deduct all assessments from its total revenue when calculating the taxes due. For most associations, this will mean no franchise taxes will be due.

Things can always change but based on what has been filed so far, we are hopeful that there will not be a great deal of negative legislation against POAs. We would encourage all board members to contact their elected state representatives to communicate your views on any proposed legislation.

Upcoming Seminars

Our C.I.A. Services Seminar Series is back in full swing with core seminars over the next two months. This is our 6th year of presenting educational seminars for our board members and other community volunteers. Each seminar concentrates on the practical aspects of the topic and provides 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.

Understanding Collections & Financial Reports The first half of this seminar will cover all the steps involved in successful assessment collections. Since not everyone pays on time, we'll get into late fees, liens, payment plans, bankruptcy and all the legal remedies. The second half of the seminar deals with reading and understanding your financial reports. We'll trace the flow of money throughout the reports so you'll never be in the dark when staring at all those numbers. February 11, 2009 (Wednesday), 6:00 p.m. — North Office February 18, 2009 (Wednesday), 6:00 p.m. — Southwest Office

Practical Deed Restriction Management Deed restriction management is one of the most difficult tasks handled by homeowners associations because it involves subjective decisions, homeowner's property and emotions. This seminar covers the steps in deed restriction management and how a process can contain "intelligence" and common sense. We discuss the relation between deed restrictions and architectural guidelines and give you examples of well crafted guidelines. Practical deed restriction management requires clear communications and reasonable requirements. March 3, 2009 (Tuesday), 6:00 p.m. — Southwest Office March 26, 2009 (Thursday), 6:00 p.m. — North Office

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

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:

• February - Sterling Green Village Community Improvement Association
  North Office - Brenda Alvarez, Community Manager
• January - Cinco Ranch Residential Association II
  Southwest - Shad Johnson, Community Manager
• December - Morningside Place Section 1 Homeowners Association
  Southwest Office - Tony Victorino, 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 February.

• Oyster Point Homeowners Association — 13 years
• Oak Hollow Homeowners Association — 8 years
• Eastpoint Subdivision Homeowners Association — 6 years
• Silverglen North Homeowners Association — 6 years
• Post Wood Civic Association — 5 years
• Greensbrook Community Association — 3 years
• Whispering Lakes 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.

• Canyon Gate at the Brazos Owners Association - Southwest Office - Leslie Baldwin, Community Manager
• The Lakefront Association - Southwest Office - Margaret Eckhardt, Community Manager

Employee Spotlight

• Congratulations to Shelly Brady, a community manager and stockholder at our North Office, on her 11 year anniversary with C.I.A. Services.
• Congratulations to Carol Harrison, an administrative assistant and stockholder at our North Office, on her 6 year anniversary with C.I.A. Services.

Shelly Brady		Carol Harrison