Over the last few months, we have been highlighting major advancements within C.I.A. Services which will enhance our organizational structure and the services we provide to our communities. Over the last four months we announced the relocation of our North Office, described great new technology we are implementing including our move towards paperless operations, and introduced our centralized customer service and accounting departments.

• North Office Relocation (August)
• New Technology (September)
• Customer Service Center (October)
• Paperless Operations (November)
• Centralized Accounting (December)
• New Support Office Opening (January)

Over the last several months we have highlighted major initiatives in progress at C.I.A. Services to further advance the level of service we provide to the residents in all of our communities. The final item, made possible by each of the other initiatives, is the opening of a new office. This month, we are breaking ground on a new office in Pipe Creek, Texas. Pipe Creek is a small town in Bandera County approximately 30 miles northwest of San Antonio. The 3,600 square foot office construction will be complete in June and the office will open for business in August.

Our Bandera Office will primarily be a support office for our branch offices in Houston providing three functions. (1) Client accounting - billing, delinquent collections, accounts payable, financial reporting, tax work, draft budgeting, investments, maintenance fee quotes & resale certificates, ownership changes, etc. for all of our clients. (2) Corporate accounting - all C.I.A. Services financial work including payroll and benefits. (3) Technical services - all network, mail, spam & web servers will be located in a specially designed computer room and all software development & support will be based in Bandera.

The consolidation of these functions into one location with a staff of accounting and technical specialists will assist our branch employees to provide better support and response to client needs. The Bandera Office will be managed by C.I.A. Services President Ralph Troiano and Executive Vice President Tina Jameson. Both will spend time in Bandera during office construction & setup and transfer permanently in June.

"Nothing Happens Unless First A Dream" - Carl Sandburg

We are very pleased to announce the promotion of Libby Hodges to branch manager of the C.I.A. Services Southwest Office. Libby was an experienced manager when she joined us in 2005 and quickly gained our confidence and respect. She is very well liked in the communities she manages and always approaches challenges with enthusiasm and a smile.

As branch manager, Libby will coordinate, assist and mentor the other community managers at the Southwest Office and ensure smooth operations. Office manager, Margaret Eckhardt, assists her by coordinating the work of the administrative and clerical staff.

Congratulations and best wishes to Libby in her new position.

For a management company, December can be both relaxing and hectic. Budgets are done, maintenance activity is low, we don't have as many evening board meetings and we get to take several days off around the holidays. On the other hand, assessment payments are coming in rapidly and we get to talk to a lot of homeowners. It reminds us of how busy our dedicated staff has been all year.

• In 2007, our maintenance coordinators issued and tracked 5,191 work orders and projects for our communities. That is an average of 21 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 2007, our home improvement coordinators processed 4,150 home improvement and new construction requests for our communities. 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 2007, our bookkeepers prepared 11,119 checks for our communities. That is an average of 44 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 2007, our community managers, administrative assistants and inspectors tracked and resolved 63,514 deed restriction violations. Our deed restriction management efforts continued to be successful with 83% of all violations getting resolved before a certified letter was needed.
• In 2007, our high speed office equipment got a real workout with our clerical staff assembling 5,000 board packages, making over 800,000 copies and mailing approximately 600,000 items. Wow!
• And not to be outdone, in December alone, our administrative assistants and bookkeepers received and deposited $5,087,659 in assessments including $2,857,306 in the last five workdays of the year!

As we move into 2008, on behalf of the entire staff of C.I.A. Services and our families, we wish you a safe, happy and prosperous new year!

We're getting close to the face off at the C.I.A. Services 10th Annual Hockey Night with the Houston Aeros. On Saturday, February 2nd we'll hold our great, annual event where we invite our community leaders, friends and families to join us for a fun night of hockey. We'll have over 500 cheering fans as guests to support the home team. There will be lots of door prizes including the third in the series of our popular cowbell collectible - this year they are blue.

The Aeros struggled early in the season but have been slowly moving up in the standings in the toughest division in the American Hockey League. This is an important gave against division rival, the Quad City Flames. The Aeros are entering January in 4th place but just 2 points above the Flames. Every win against a division rival is big so you know this will be a close and exciting great game!

Check out photos of the fun from the last five years on the Library page of our web site or just click the years here: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007.

The invitations were mailed in December with instructions for reserving tickets. Call 713-981-9000 or email HockeyNight@ciaservices.com for questions or to RSVP.

Woodforest North II was pleased to unveil two new community entry monuments along Wallisville Road.

After one monument was destroyed earlier this year by a vehicle accident, the board decided to replace it with a new look. They also wanted the second monument on Wallisville to match. The cost to replace the first monument was funded from the insurance proceeds. The second monument was funded from a donation that Walmart provided for beautification projects several years ago when they built a super center adjacent to the community. These are wonderful monuments that the community will love for years.

The Eagle Springs WinterFest 2007 started long before the carriage rides and games. It started for several young ladies weeks prior to the event.

This wonderful group stepped up and decorated the clubhouse Christmas tree this year. The tree was a beautiful back drop for the photos with Santa and admired by all. However, being a beautiful backdrop was not the sole purpose for this tree.

Many of us look forward to the holidays and the many traditions that go along with it. Unfortunately, there are families that do not have money to purchase gifts for their children much less a tree to place them under and their holidays are not so bright. The call was put out to the residents of Eagle Springs to help a needy family.

A pre-lit artificial Christmas tree was donated by Mark and Rebekah Snipp of Century 21 Outstanding Homes. Basic gold and white ornaments were provided by the Eagle Springs Community Association. The "Bunco Babes of Yukon Forest" took it from there!

These gals that live in the Yukon Forest section of Eagle Springs usually get together and play the fun game of Bunco. In December, instead of Bunco, they gathered to make this tree come to life. With the decorations they purchased and those provided by ESCA, they turned this tree into the beautiful sight that it was. The tree was named Angels Among Us. It was decorated with love, hope, and encouragement that showed with each and every ornament.

We are proud to announce that the tree was donated to loving and deserving family of five through the work of the Humble Area Assistance Ministries.

Let’s put our hands together for the Bunco Babes of Yukon Forest for all of the decorations! Amy Heffernan, Erica Muck, Tara McCall, Gretchen Vogel, Grey Cheney, Tammy Richards, Tonya Stansbury, Kristy Phillips, Marianne Stevenson, Michelle Foster, and Leslie Barton. As well as for Mark and Rebekah Snipp of Century 21 Outstanding Homes for sponsoring the pre-lit tree.

The Association hopes to continue this effort each year.

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:

• January - Valley Lodge Property Owners Association
  Southwest Office - Olga Martinez, Community Manager
• December - Parkway Forest Property Owners Association
  North Office - Brenda Alvarez, Community Manager
• November - Vicksburg Community Association
  Southwest Office - Leslie Baldwin, 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.

"Prescription for Neighborhood Success" is the theme for this year's Cypress Creek United Civic Associations (CCUCA) seminars and trade show. This is the 22nd 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 migle with board members from many other communities. This years event is on Saturday, March 1st.

The official announcement with the seminar schedule and speakers hasn't been released yet however, expect 15 intriguing seminars to choose from. Here are a few from last year to peak your interest:

• HOA Hula School Parts 1, 2 and 3 (these three seminars cover the ABCs for Board members)
• It's the Law (legal issues affecting associations)
• Signs of the Times (how to fight graffiti)
• All About Accountability (proper controls on finances)
• Hello Out There! (communications with residents and the outside world)
• Show Me the Money! (assessment collections and the law)
• Paying for Today, Preparing for Tomorrow (taking the mystery out of reserves)
• See You in Court! (is JP court an option?)
• Boosting Community Involvement (how to find and retain volunteers and community participation)
• Smart Landscaping Solutions (native plants and natural approaches)

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

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.

• January 17, 2008 (Thursday), 6:30 p.m. - Southwest Office

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 7, 2008 (Thursday), 6:30 p.m. - Southwest Office
• February 12, 2008 (Tuesday), 6:30 p.m. - North Office

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

The C.I.A. Services Electricity Savings Program (ESP) with Tara Energy continues to save money for our communities and residents. We created the program last year to take advantage of electricity deregulation in Texas. If you or your community hasn't made a change in your Retail Electric Provider, take a look at how ESP can save you money without any hidden surprises.

ESP is saving money for our clients and the residents in our communities. Those that signed on when we introduced our program last October have locked in rates for up to four years. Commercial accounts (i.e. the community common areas) have rates as low as 6.95 cents per kwh. Currently, residential accounts can lock in for 3 years at 9.10 cents per kwh. All new accounts receive a $25 credit on their first bill.

For more information on ESP including current rates and options, click here. So what are you waiting for? Think ESP and save!

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.

• Heron Nest Owners Association - North Office - Shelly Brady, Community Manager
• Hunters Green Homeowners Association - Southwest Office - Tina Jameson, Community Manager

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

• Hunterwood Village II Association - 22 years
• Homeowners Association of Timber Forest - 11 years
• Kings Lake Forest Homeowners Association - 11 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.

• Congratulations to Charlotte Bulcken on her 12th anniversary with C.I.A. Services. Charlotte works with both offices overseeing client financial reporting and a variety of other tasks.
• Congratulations to Liz Holliday on her 11th anniversary with C.I.A. Services. Liz is a key part of the team that processed 2,300 Home Improvement Requests at our North Office in 2007.

Charlotte Bulcken		Liz Holliday