Professional Community Association Management Since 1984
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Archived Newsletters

Every month, we issue an electronic newsletter, eNews Monthly, to keep clients informed about Association items, spotlight clients, answer frequently asked questions, and let you know what is happening with the company. Old issues of eNews Monthly are available on our Library page.

May 2017
eNews Monthly
Volunteer Spotlight
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Summerwood’s Barbara Probandt
by Jennifer Northington

Barbara Probandt has been a resident of Summerwood since 1999. Since then she has been passionate about keeping Summerwood wonderful.  Barbara is a founding member of the Crime Watch Committee which formed 12 years ago and has served as the Secretary for many years.  Her assistance with organizing Summerwood’s largest community event, National Night Out (NNO), is a vital part of making NNO such a great success.  As a member of the Architectural Review Committee, she has reviewed thousands of home improvement requests to help keep the community looking its best.  Barbara helped guide the landscape plans while serving on the Summerwood Beautification Committee for over 5 years.  Her green thumb and plant knowledge were put to good use.  She is an advocate of good communication and has led the Communication Committee for many years, writing and soliciting articles for the monthly newsletter. 

Barbara graciously volunteered her time as a member of the Board of Directors for many years.  She served as the Secretary/Treasurer for most of this time.  She was an advocate for residents and used her experience to help find creative solutions to many concerns. 

Barbara is also an active member of the Summerwood BizCom, a group of businesses, community leaders, school officials and individuals that meet to focus on the unique needs and issues of the community.  She is able to use resources from this organization to help meet the needs of Summerwood residents.  

Barbara and her husband Gerard have 3 married children and are proud grandparents of 7.  Barbara is a valuable asset as a volunteer and brings a wealth of information and ideas to the community.  Volunteers like Barbara are what make Summerwood an amazing and vital community.

Accomplishments
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Association Management Specialist

We are proud to announce that Kristen Craig, of our Humble office, has earned her AMS designation. The AMS (Association Management Specialist) designation is the second level in the career track for community association managers developed by Community Associations Institute.

The AMS designation demonstrates a higher level of commitment to the community association industry and requires two years of experience in multiple aspects of association management.  In order to qualify for an AMS, managers are required to earn the CMCA designation, and take at least two (2) approved continuing education classes on various association related topics.  

Join us in congratulating Kristen on achieving her latest professional goal!

Seminar Series
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We always enjoy presenting the C.I.A. Services Seminar Series. 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.

We recently introduced new and exciting features for this year by offering our first seminar via webcast.  The result was the same successful seminar with more advanced topics and audience participation.

We are continuing with our webcast format.  We will come to your computer screen rather than you needing to travel to us!  Each event will be broadcast live so anyone anywhere can join in.  We believe this is the most convenient way for community volunteers to be able to participate. 

Because the seminars are broadcast live, we have the added bonus of the presenter being Ralph Troiano, our company president.  If you have never had the pleasure of attending a presentation by Ralph, you are in for a treat!  Ralph is a dynamic speaker with a true passion for what we do.

We’ll still ask participants to register in advance so that we can get the sign in information to you in advance. To register, please send an email to seminars@ciaservices.com.

You can view the full schedule of all of this year’s webcast seminars here.

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Stay Plugged in with Webcasts

We have received great feedback on our new webcast approach for presenting our seminars!  If you have not been able to join us, we encourage you to catch the next one.

With this new method of presentation, we are now able to offer the recorded webcast on demand for you to watch at any time! If you have missed a seminar, our seminars are available on our YouTube channel.  The following seminars are now available:

  • Board Member Orientation
  • Practical Deed Restriction Management
  • Understanding Collections and Financial Reports
  • Meetings and Records - The Legal Requirements

Just go to our website www.ciaservices.com and click on the Resources tab.  From there, select our Library and you will see the links to each webcast and other training materials or you can simply click here.

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Community Website Administrator Training

This is the required training course for certification as a Community Website Administrator (CWSA) on the C.I.A Services web site (www.ciaservices.com). As a CWSA you’ll be able to maintain the pages for your community. You’ll be able to create news and events, update key personnel, add community information, display photos, conduct surveys and much more. Being a website administrator is very easy on www.ciaservices.com and you can do it from anywhere you have an Internet connection. All CWSA training is done by webinar in the comfort of your home.

Space is limited and advance registration is required.  To register, please send an email to seminars@ciaservices.com.

06/01/17 – Thursday

6 – 7 pm

Webinar

 

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Essentials of Architectural Control

Your governing documents provide authority to regulate design and appearance of any construction, improvements or alterations within the community. This is a powerful authority with an obligation that it be used sensibly. This seminar will explain the range and limits of this authority, demonstrate the role of architectural guidelines, describe the interplay between deed restrictions issues and architectural issues, and touch on handling the tough problems.

07/18/17 – Tuesday

6 – 8 pm

Webcast

 

Community Spotlight
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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:

  • May - The Woods at Fair Oaks - San Antonio office - Tina Jameson
  • April - Cross Creek Ranch Community Association - Humble office - Renea Miksch and Kristen Craig
  • March - Aliana Homeowners Association - Southwest Houston office - Deniece Reyes
  • February - Steeple Chase Terrace Townhouse Association - Humble office - Valerie Lehr
  • January - Plantation at Woodforest Community Association - Humble office - Brenda Ellington
  • December - Cinco Ranch Commercial Association - Humble office - Laura Tate and Kimberly Cowart

To see the full story on these communities and to see all of the past winners, visit the Community of the Month page on our site.

New Communities
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We are pleased to announce two more outstanding communities that have joined C.I.A. Services.

The Summit Ridge Property Owners Association is a new acreage and gated community development of custom homes located in San Antonio. There are about 121 lots in the community and a few model homes are under construction.

Shadows Springs Community Association is a patio home community with 69 homes.  Shadow Springs is located in close proximately to our Southwest Houston office.  

Community Anniversaries
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Every month we appreciate the communities that are celebrating their anniversaries with us. Here are the clients that started with us in May.

  • Bay Pointe Community Association — 18 years
  • Crystal Lake Property Owners Association — 17 years
  • Cinco Ranch Residential Association II— 9 years
  • Cinco Ranch Commercial Association II— 9 years
  • Cinco Ranch Southwest Community Council — 9 years
  • Cypresswood Green Property Owners Association — 8 years
  • Atascocita Timbers Homeowners Association — 5 years
  • Bandera Falls Property Owners Association — 5 years
  • CrossRoads at Benders Landing Estates Homeowners Association - 3 years
  • Oak Hill Estates Homeowners Association - 2 years
  • Mathom Landing Homeowners Association - 1 year
  • Rancho Verde Residential Community, Inc. - 1 year
Employee Corner
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Employee Anniversaries

We love to celebrate special milestones with our employees. In the Employee Corner of each eNews issue, we will list all employees that have reached their 1 year anniversary with our company.  Additionally, once employees reach five years and become stockholders, we recognize them each year on their anniversary month.

Congratulations to Renea Miksch on her 32nd anniversary! Renea is an Executive Vice President, Branch Manager of our Humble office, Community Manager, and stockholder.  

Laura Tate of our Humble office is celebrating 24 years with the company this month.  Laura Tate is also an Executive Vice President in addition to Community Manager and stockholder.

We are pleased to announce that Margie De La Cruz of our Southwest Houston office has been with C.I.A. Services for 17 awesome years.  Margie provides an array of administrative support to the company and we would be lost without her!

Congratulations to both Belinda Flores and Morgan Miksch on their 1 year anniversaries.  Belinda is a member of our Accounting Department and works out of our Bandera office, making sure our numbers look good! Morgan works at our Humble office providing a variety of administrative support.

Read Past Issues of eNews Monthly

Every month, we issue an electronic newsletter, eNews Monthly, to keep clients informed about Association items, spotlight clients, answer frequently asked questions, and let you know what is happening with the company. Old issues of eNews Monthly are available on our Library page.