On The Level - October 2007
Contents:
Elected Officials Night Drawing Near
In hopes of record attendance on Tuesday, October 16th, the trustees of TABA Home-PAC have opted to change up tradition for the 2007 Elected Officials Night celebration. Instead of hosting the event at one of our favorite venues—the Cyclone Corral Barbeque—we are asking the Cyclone Corral to cater the event at a venue that is just down the road from it.
Tri-Supply and Jeldwen Windows & Doors have graciously committed to sponsoring the event. A special thanks goes out to these outstanding TABA members!
This year the event will be held at Seaton Star Hall, which is actually a shorter drive on Highway 53 than Cyclone is. The venue is large enough to hold as many elected officials and TABA members as we can get out there on the evening of Tuesday, October 16th so we are asking everyone to do all they can to attend.
Since 2007 is not an election year as far as candidates are concerned, we have decided to use this event as an opportunity to tell our elected officials a little bit about more than they already may know about our industry.
In that vein, we have invited Dr. Elliot Eisenberg from the National Association of Home Builders in Washington D.C., to come down to Texas and explain the results of his analysis of our area of the state.
Dr. Eisenberg has delivered two reports to TABA leadership. Respectively, these speak to the “income, jobs, and taxes generated” by the homebuilding industry of Temple and Belton, and “comparing costs to revenue for local governments” in our jurisdiction. We look forward to sharing these reports with you and will publish them on our website immediately after Dr. Eisenberg shares the results with everyone at Elected Officials Night.
Dr. Eisenberg is a renowned economist. Some of you may have already seen him on television or radio, or read his research and opinions in features from Business Week, Fortune, and numerous other publications.
We’re looking forward to hosting Dr. Eisenberg and our elected and public officials on the 16th. TABA members make sure to do your best to attend and let our public servants know how much we appreciate them.
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We have made it through another busy month at the Temple Area Builders Association. The HomePAC Skeet Shoot was a great success. Many thanks to Troy, Jason Carothers and the HomePAC trustees for assurring the event went smoothly. A special thanks to Jared Bryan for lending his committee to this effort. And a final thanks to Weber's Shooting Center for their hospitality.
We are also of course, grateful to our sponsors and our many shooters who added to the success of the shoot. It is hard to believe that was only our second time to put on the event, it came off like we'd been doing it for years. We have quickly smoothed out the learning curve on how to put one of these shoots on. Todd Weber told us it was one of the best they've ever had.
Another item that kept us busy this month was our building. Our addition is really coming together. This is another effort that has shown what we can do when many members work together.
Special thanks for the recent efforts of Pat Patterson in getting the parking lot cemented in. This was a major hurdle that we are almost over. Chris Alexander of Texas Tradition Custom Homes, and Cheryl’s decorating genius are really starting to be highlighted. Thanks in great part to them we will have one of the classiest looking buildings around. Click here to take a look at the latest photos of the building progress.
I want to also remind everyone about our Elected Officials Appreciation Dinner on Tuesday, October 16th. This is not only a great opportunity to come out and help show our officials how much we appreciate them and to show them our numbers, but it will also be a great meal and very educational. I'll see you there!
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Storm Water Training Update
The Temple Area Builders Association was privileged to be one of the first HBAs around the state to bring its member training on new storm water standards and information about municipal level involvement in storm water regulation.
Our event was very well attended and we were especially appreciative to have Temple City Engineer Michael Newman, Belton City Manager Sam Listi, and Belton Mayor Jim Covington on hand to review the training with about 30 of our builder members.
Prior to the training, Mr. Newman took an opportunity to update the attendees on the Temple Municipal Storm Water Program. We have written much about the process that the City of Temple has gone through to create a local program and we have appreciated the City including the building community as stakeholders in preparing the program.
Currently the City of Temple is internalizing the results of the meetings that were held to create the program and they are shoring up the performance goals that they intend to recommend to the City Council in the near future.
In case you’ve missed it in the news lately, the City of Belton is also working to create a program and TABA stands ready to participate in that endeavor at our earliest possible opportunity. Belton’s effort has been noted in the local paper on a couple of different occasions over the past month.
Belton is working to comply with the TCEQ February ‘08 deadline to have a plan in place. They’ve hired a consultant, whom they’ll pay $4,500 (from existing budgeted storm drainage funds) to develop their plan.
The Belton storm drainage fee will likely be based on a per unit charge of $3 per month for single and multi-family housing units. Non-residential businesses will pay a fee as well. Reportedly the staff is recommending the Council consider a $10 to $200 monthly flat rate for these types of uses.
TABA Code Council Update…
TABA Code Council continues to move forward. The Fire Code is the focus of our attention at this point. 'Council' members have been working with an engineer and local fire officials to come up with some interesting culdesac design proposals that could end up producing an industry wide benefit. We’ll keep you posted as this process continues to develop.
Representative Diane Delisi Ready For Other Challenges!
State Representative Diane Delisi will not run for office in 2008. She has been a great public servant and is deserving of much thanks for the time she has spent on behalf of District 55 in Austin. Please contact her and tell her how much you appreciate the work she has done on your behalf for the past 17 years.
There are many suitors lining up to take over her position. Officially, Sam Murphey (D) of Harker Heights and John Alaniz (R) of Temple, were the first to toss their hat into the candidate pool. Several others will likely become official candidates in the near future. In fact, Temple Mayor Pro-Tem Martha Tyroch is the latest to announce her intentions to run. This, of course, has implications for Temple City Council and it will be interesting to see how that situation plays out.
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It's Begun!!! Booking season for the 2008 Home & Garden Show is in full swing and spaces are going fast. We are already half way towards our goal and if this show goes like the last two shows, space will not be available come the beginning of January so book early.
This year we are incoporating a new side venue to the show - the Travel & Leisure Exhibit featuring cities from around Texas advertising their attributes to attract tourism. We are doing this in conjunction with the City of Temple Tourism Department and the Belton Chamber of Commerce. We are very excited to have them partner with us. Once again we'll have the Car Show Exhibit in the Exposition Building. This is always a crowd pleaser!
The dates of the event are February 23rd and 24th with the Preview Party on the 22nd. We have had several exhibitors interested in the center booth and a decision will be made the beginning of October as to which group will fill it.
If you are interested in taking part in the Home & Garden Show next year, but did not participate this year, we are booking space now for those interested. 2007 exhibitors had until September 30th to book their usual locations and booths then went up for general sale October 1st.
You can find a show layout and booth price guide by clicking here. Please note that booth prices have changed slightly this year and special member pricing is available.
If you have any questions regarding the 2008 Home & Garden Show please contact Cheryl Copeland at 254-773-0445.
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Thanks to all who attended, participated in, and sponsored the 2nd Annual TABA Home-PAC Skeet Shoot at Weber’s Shooting Center in Troy. The event was a success in every way. From the attendance to the festivities, to the auction, to the dinner—there was nothing that the skeet committee, chaired by Jared Bryan, left undone.
The event was handled very efficiently, and even with almost 100 shooters, we finished ahead of schedule and everyone had a good time from all indications. The auctions, both silent and live, were also a big success as we offered many items that appealed to outdoorsmen and builders alike. A big “Thank You” to Eddy Lange, County Commissioner, and auctioneer extraordinaire! Commissioner Lange did a fantastic job of describing the auction items and nailing down the bids.
Team Kiella was the overall winner of the event. Shooters Ronnie Mikeska, Brian Fields, Mitch Johnson, and Brad Turner powdered 170 of a possible 200 clays to win the contest. The rest of the field included several who were close to that number and many others who weren’t so close. All in all, everyone had a great time and we'll look forward to our 3rd annual shoot in 2008.
Special thanks to Home-PAC Chairman Jason Carothers of Carothers Executive Homes and Chad Levin of Salado Pools for the bbq they provided throughout the day. The sausage, chicken and alligator tail were crowd pleasers and their pit proved to be a huge draw to all who attended.
The following photos capture the day’s events pretty well. Enjoy and make sure you plan on attending the event again next year!
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TABA Year Coming to a Close
Annual Awards Banquet and Christmas Mixer Scheduled
It's hard to believe but the holiday season is almost upon us and this means that TABA's fiscal year is coming to an end and there are only two more Membership Meetings left on the calendar.
The Annual Awards Banquet will again be held at CAC - Strasburger Hall catered by Classic Catering. It is scheduled for Tuesday, November 13th. Details will be emailed and mailed out soon.
At this event we will recognize all of our many volunteers that helped us accomplish our goals for the year. It is also the night where we elect our new Board of Directors. This is a special evening and you won't want to miss it so mark your calendars.
December is always a very busy month but we hope you can take a few minutes to stop by the new TABA office building. The plan is to have a Christmas Mixer at the TABA office and for this to be our grand opening of the building for our general membership.
A special appreciation dinner will be planned in January for all of our generous contributors. This Christmas Mixer will be a come and go event from 11am - 2pm with food and drinks. It is scheduled for Thursday, December 6th. Keep reading the On the Level newsletters for more information.
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2008 Nominating Committee Report
President Mike Pilkington appointed a nominating committee and the committee produced a proposed slate for the Board of Directors for 2008. The general membership will be voting on the nominees at the November 16th Awards Banquet.
President Derrick Hunt
Vice President Chris Alexander
Secretary Justin Scott
Treasurer Lisa McKinnon
Past President Mike Pilkington
Directors:
Greg Davis
Tony Gallagher
Mat Naegele
Jason Peavy
Will Sears
Jamey Secrest
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2008 Planning Continues
Planning for the coming new year is well underway. Meetings have been scheduled for this month with the event committees and Derrick Hunt and I have already met to discuss goals and strategies. Derrick's main focus next year will be membership and education. Our plan is to begin to capitalize on the beautiful building our members have helped us build and offer more educational opportunities. This will provide our members with an increased tangible benefit to membership. The planning is more the beginning of a 3 year plan than it is something that can be accomplished in one year. Hopefully it sets the stage for future progress and the effect will ultimately grow our membership.
2008 Home & Garden Show
Time flys when you are having fun!!! I can't believe it's October and booking for the Home & Garden Show has been occurring at a swift pace. The Exposition Building is nearly sold out!!! There are NO large booths left in that building - response has been amazing. The domed floor is quickly selling as well but you still have time. Check out the Home & Garden Show page on the TABA website for a show layout and booth price guide.
Building Expansion Project
It's taken awhile, but as they say, "Rome was not built in a day"... The building is looking great. Within the next few weeks, furniture should be delivered and the AV equipment should be installed and we will be ready for business. Everyone who has worked on this project has been so generous with their time, product and monetary donations. The TABA staff and leadership greatly appreciate it.
The unveiling plan continues to evolve with the somewhat flexible schedule that the building is on, but right now we think we can make a general membership grand opening that coincides with our Christmas Mixer. It will be a come and go event so we hope that everyone can take a few minutes to come by, share some punch and check out our new digs! We are also going to plan a special appreciation dinner for all of our donors that will probably happen in January. Click here to view the progress.
PAC season will also come to a close with the Annual Elected Officials Appreciation BBQ. I hope to see everyone there.
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NEW HOME STARTS
| | September '07 | September '06 | '07 YTD | '06 YTD |
| Temple | 36 | 37 | 419 | 444 |
| Belton | 7 | 13 | 86 | 131 |
| Morgan's Point | 2 | 4 | 22 | 47 |
| Totals | 45 | 54 | 527 | 622 |
ALL HOME CLOSINGS | September '07 | 181 | '07 YTD | 1,872 |
| September '06 | 180 | '06 YTD | 1,813 |
On The Level - Table Of Contents
Construction Continues at 12 North 5th...
On The Level - Table Of Contents
