The schedule for the sixth year of the popular C.I.A. Services Seminar Series was mailed to all community board members at the beginning of August. To view the seminar descriptions and schedule, click here or visit the Library page of our website. 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.

We have made a few changes this year. First, we have shortened the seminars from 2½ to 2 hours and moved the start time from 6:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. to get you home sooner. We've tightened up the presentations so you will still receive all the important content. Second, we have added a new seminar to the line-up: Essentials of Architectural Control, which will help you understand how to take advantage of this powerful authority provided in your deed restrictions. Finally, we dropped our scheduled Community Website Administrator Training seminars - anyone needing training can contact us and we'll schedule small sessions as needed.

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.

The Super-Budgeting Process "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), 6:00 p.m. — North Office August 26, 2008 (Tuesday), 6:00 p.m. — Southwest Office

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

William Sumpter Frazier and Bruce Meyer enjoying C.I.A Services Hockey Night 2004

Outstanding Volunteers:
Lochshire's Meyer & Frazier

Lochshire Community started out as a small neighborhood with 82 homes in 1974. That is when Bruce Meyer and his wife, Ann, moved into a home on Afton Way from New Jersey. About two years later William Sumpter Frazier and his wife moved into their home on Caperidge. At this time, the Red Wolf Golf Course was farm land with Brahman Bulls and FM 2100 ended at the entrance of the Lochshire subdivision.

When Bruce moved into his home he did not know about a homeowners association or a Board of Trustees for the community. That all changed one day when his wife looked out into their new freshly sod yard and saw what she thought was a really big dog. Well, they went out to investigate and discovered that big dog was actually a Brahman Bull. The only thing he could think of at that time was to try and chase the bull off with his walking stick, so he shook his stick and told the bull to "Git". Needless to say the bull started digging up the new sod yard as though it was going charge so Bruce and Ann wisely decided to get back into the house slowly.

The next day Bruce contacted the developer to see if they could call the police or what to remedy this problem. Bruce was informed that the police would not come out to the area since they were in the county. So Bruce talked to his neighbor William Sumpter Frazier and they got the developer to appoint them to the Board of Trustees for the Lochshire community.

The developers of Lochshire turned control of the Board over to the homeowners on January 1, 1978. Two young men, Bruce Meyer and William Sumpter Frazier had already been working on the Board of Trustees since in 1976 so helped the community in the transition. Today these two gentlemen still remain active members of the Board of Trustees for the community.

Bruce worked with the plastics division of BP for 32 years and retired 5 years ago. He now travels and plays golf. He is still very active on the Board. William Sumpter Frazier had his own law practice in Huffman for 32 years and 5 years ago he started working as a county attorney with the CPS division and is also active on the Board.

So with a combination of 64 years of volunteering on the Board of Trustees, the community is proud to have these two gentlemen. We look forward to many more years of working with Bruce Meyer and William Sumpter Frazier.

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/.

The City of Sugar Land has taken this a step further. They have replaced National Night Out with Texans Against Crime and is asking City residents to participate on Tuesday, October 14, 2008. To see what Sugar Land has planned, visit their website.

Electricity Savings Programs

The energy market has been chaotic this year. Oil barrel and gasoline prices have reached record levels.With nearly 60% of all Texas electricity generated from natural gas, electricity prices have followed the rise and fall of natural gas prices which peaked in July reaching levels last seen in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. The energy challenges are rippling through every aspect of the economy.

C.I.A. Services introduced the Electricity Savings Program (ESP) with Tara Energy in 2006 as a way to assist our communities and residents through Texas electricity deregulation. For electricity used on common areas and for streetlights, our communities were able to lock into low electricity rates for one to four years. Residents in our communities have had the option of fixed or variable rate plans. Any resident that selected a variable rate plan actual saw their electricity rates drop in 2007 but got a shock as prices jumped rapidly starting in the spring of 2008. Residents on fixed rate plans and communities with one to four year locked in rates saw their electricity bill stay relatively flat.

Under deregulation, however, "relatively" is a relative word. Although we all select a Retail Electricity Provider (REP) and pay one bill, we are actually paying two rates. One is the electricity cost that you agree to with your REP. The second is "System Charges". These include transmission and distribution charges from CenterPoint Energy (in the Houston area) and fuel cost adjustments. They are charged to the REP and passed-through to you. The System Charges are figured based on a PUCT Rule that is complex and changing. In the end, you will pay the same System Charges for a particular electricity usage regardless of which REP you choose. System charges are not insignificant - they can add $0.01 to $0.08 per kWh to your bill. So even if you have a fixed rate plan, your REP can only "fix" half of the equation.

If you would like more information about ESP including current rates and options, click here. Each resident that enrolls will receive a discounted rate and a $50 credit on their first month’s bill from Tara Energy. So what are you waiting for? Think ESP and save!

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:

• August - Ideloch Maintenance Fund
  North Office - Shelly Brady, Community Manager
• July - Hunterwood Village II Association
  North Office - Olga Martinez, Community Manager
• June - Atascocita North Community Improvement Association
  North Office - Brenda Alvarez, 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.

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.

• Kenswick Trace Homeowners Association - North Office - Shelly Brady, Community Manager
• New Forest West Townhomes Homeowners Association - North Office - Diane Santos, Community Manager

Anniversaries

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

• Country Colony Community Improvement Association — 13 years
• Covington Bridge Community Association — 5 years
• Glen Park Homeowners Association — 4 years
• Hunters Glen Section V Homeowners Association — 4 years
• Telfair Community Council — 2 years
• Quail Green 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.

Employee Spotlight

• Congratulations to three of our North Office employees who are celebrating anniversaries with C.I.A. Services. Kim Easterling and Angie Thomas both joined us 10 years ago and Annette Escarenio, joined us 6 years ago.
• Welcome to Jessica Davis who is our onsite Community Coordinator for Cinco Ranch Southwest and Daniel Harris who has joined us as a Maintenance Coordinator at our Southwest Office.

Kim Easterling		Angie Thomas		Annette Escarenio

Jessica Davis		Daniel Harris