Bandera Office Opens

Our new Bandera Office is open! Our new 3600 square foot office building on 1.4 acres of land in Pipe Creek, Texas was completed at the end of June. Pipe Creek is about 25 miles northwest of San Antonio in Bandera County. Our new office will initially serve as a support office for our Houston communities providing accounting and technical services. In the future, the office will provide management services to hill country communities.

The first day for our new employees was June 30th. Our appropriately attired staff are (left to right in back): Ted Arcos, Annette McConnell, Tina Fuller, Shirley Crowther and Roseann Ashe. In front are President Ralph Troiano and Executive Vice President Tina Jameson holding company mascots, Roo (RedDog) and Risa (BlueDog).

All of our new Bandera staff has relevant accounting and business experience. Training is underway to teach the community association management business and the nuances of each community. Although we began carrying out a number of accounting tasks in the first week, the Bandera Office will assume full accounting and technical responsibilities on August 18th.

The Bandera office hours are Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. We open early so a number of daily accounting functions can be completed before our branch offices open at 9:00 a.m.

San Antonio and Bandera are popular vacation destinations. To all of our community volunteers and friends, we extend an open invitation to drop by our office at any time.

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Home for Our Heros

"Severely wounded and disabled War on Terror veterans have special challenges everyday. They must adjust to their new circumstances and they need our help. Emotionally our wounded heroes need to know that every American appreciates the sacrifices our wounded heroes have made. Financially our wounded heroes deserve every American’s support to help pay for everyday living expenses, not to mention their new special needs such as retrofitting a house for a wheelchair."

The above quote is from the Helping A Hero website - a non-profit, non-partisan organization created to fund programs and services which will provide financial, emotional, educational, mentoring, recreational and scholarship support for severely injured military personnel and their families.

As part of the Wounded Hero Home Program, former U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Richard Massimino was recently honored at the groundbreaking ceremony for his new Summerwood home. After serving 3 tours in Iraq, Sgt. Massimino returned with wounds and severe PTSD and TBI. The Massimino home will be handicapped-accessible with widened doors, lowered appliances, a soundproofed study, and wheelchair-accessible master bath and living areas for when he is in a wheelchair.

The new home for Sgt. Massimino and his wife Natasha and three children is being provided through the efforts and generosity of the Northshore Rotary Club, Galena Park ISD, Perry Homes, Newland Communities, and many others. The gift was presented by Houston Mayor Bill White and other dignitaries in a groundbreaking ceremony on June 19th.

Photo: Sgt. Richard Massimino with E.A. "Buddy" Grantham, Office of Veteran's Affairs director, and Michelle Colvard, executive director of the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities, at the groundbreaking ceremony. Photo by Stephanie Meza, the Tribune newspapers.

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Outstanding Volunteer:
Ridgepoint's Debbie Hymer

Debbie Hymer from the Ridgepoint Community Association has volunteered on the Board of Directors for 20 years. When Debbie moved into the community in 1982, she was one of the first homeowners. Not too long after moving into Ridgepoint, Debbie started her career as a Ridgepoint volunteer. She was on the Board when C.I.A. Services began managing their community, so we have always had the pleasure of working with her. Her knowledge of how to read blueprints has made her an asset to the community. While she has been on the Board, the community has sponsored several annual events, including the Annual Turkey Giveaways, Spring Cleanup, and the Scholarship Program.

Debbie was integral part in the Municipal Utility District taking over the cost of the trash collection. Additionally, the Association has been challenged with the problem of the perimeter wall that is not a part of the community. The wall was constantly a canvass for graffiti artists and the Association has paid to have it cleaned on a regular basis. The Board decided that take a proactive approach and rather than cleaning the wall, they are now in the process of planting ivy along the wall. Not only will this discourage graffiti activity, it will beautify the community and promote green thinking.

During her tenure on the Board, Debbie has married and continues to volunteer for Houston Farm and Ranch Club, serve as an Election Judge and a Precinct Chairman, and serve on Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Committee. She is also a member of Diamonds and Dollars, a charity that raises funds for scholarships and other charitable events. With all of this, she still makes the time to work and be on the Board of Directors for her community.

It is a pleasure to work with Debbie and we salute her dedication and pride in Ridgepoint. Board members may not realize how much a management company appreciates volunteers like Debbie Hymer. Thank you, Debbie!

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National Night Out

This year will be the 25th 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 dang hot in August in these here parts. So Texas has set its own date for NNO on Tuesday, October 7, 2008. 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/.

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 - Hunterwood Village II Association
  North Office - Olga Martinez, Community Manager
• June - Atascocita North Community Improvement Association
  North Office - Brenda Alvarez, Community Manager
• May - Quail Green South Community Association
  Southwest Office - Gina Victor, 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.

The schedule for the fifth year of the popular C.I.A. Services Seminar Series is now being finalized. The seminar descriptions and full schedule will be posted on our website at the end of July. All Board members will also receive a announcement by mail in early August. We have trained over 600 students so far and have received very positive feedback on the content and presentation. Our goal is to provide timely and convenient educational opportunities to help you with your duties.

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 reference materials.

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 on www.ciaservices.com and you can do it from anywhere you have an internet connection.

• July 24, 2008 (Thursday), 6:30 p.m. - Southwest Office

"Super-Budgeting" is our term for preparing a comprehensive long term budget and business plan. This isn't something you do on the back of an envelope an hour before the budget meeting. We'll break the process down into understandable components and show you how assets and reserves fit in the picture. We'll start with a simple question that very few people can answer correctly: "How much money should our Association have in the bank?" By the end of the seminar, you'll know the correct answer for your Association. This is a critical seminar to take before you start looking at budgets.

• August 21, 2008 (Thursday), 6:30 p.m. — North Office
• August 26, 2008 (Tuesday), 6:30 p.m. — Southwest Office

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

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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.

• Cinco Ranch Commercial Association II - Southwest Office - Karen Cooper, Community Manager
• Cinco Ranch Residential Association II - Southwest Office - Karen Cooper, Community Manager
• Cinco Ranch Southwest Community Council - Southwest Office - Karen Cooper, Community Manager
• Kenswick Trace Homeowners Association - North Office - Shelly Brady, Community Manager
• New Forest West Townhomes Homeowners Associationn - North Office - Diane Santos, Community Manager

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Anniversaries

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

• East Point Community Association - 18 years
• Colony Creek Village Community Association - 13 years
• Inwood Northwest Neighborhood Association - 7 years
• Royal Palms Homeowners Association - 4 years
• Ashford Lakes Community Improvement Association - 3 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.

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Employee Spotlight

• Welcome to our new Bandera Office accounting staff: Ted Arcos, Roseann Ashe, Shirley Crowther, Tina Fuller and Annette McConnell.
• Tina Jameson has been named Branch Manager of our new Bandera Office.

Tina Jameson		Ted Arcos		Roseann Ashe
Shirley Crowther		Tina Fuller		Annette McConnelle