November 11th is Veterans Day, which honors all American veterans, living and deceased, but especially gives thanks to living veterans who served their country honorably during war or peacetime.  

The military men and women who serve and protect the U.S. come from all walks of life; they are parents, children, grandparents, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and are an important part of the community. 

We would like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank the veterans that we have the honor of working with daily.

Ed Barnett, Maintenance Coordinator, served in The United States Navy for 24 years. Joining in 1974, Ed served as a Damage Controlman Chief Petty Officer (Surface Warfare Specialist). He made his first overseas tour soon after joining and quickly received his first Sea Service Bronze Medal. Every 5 bronze medals earned equals 1 Silver Star and Ed ultimately earned 2 Silver Stars over a total 10 year period of sea service. Over the course of his service, his duty stations were varied, including Amphibious Assault Ships, Destroyer Duty, and Ship Repair. Ed’s final tour brought him to Houston, where he ultimately came ashore at C.I.A. Services.

Patrick Sheffield, Maintenance Coordinator, enlisted in The United States Army as an Infantryman in June of 1980 at the age of 17. He served until October 1983 with the main responsibility of specializing in small arms combat training in all types of weather and terrain. Patrick’s basic training took place in Fort Benning, Georgia and he was assigned a duty station in Fort Stewart, Georgia. He ultimately earned the rank of Private First Class and traveled to some very unhospitable places for training, including Alaska, the Florida Everglades, and countless nights in the woods in Georgia. Patrick attributes his teamwork skills and willingness to try his best at everything to his time spent in the Army.

Carson Treybig, Maintenance Coordinator, served in the United States Air Force from 1988 to 1997. During that time, he served overseas at RAF Lakenheath, England, USAF Europe Headquarters at Ramstein Air Base, NATO Air Base in Vicenza, Italy, and at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. During his time in service, he served in conflicts Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Somalia and Bosnia Herzegovina. Carson earned many service recognition awards for the conflicts including the Meritorious Service Award with 2 Oak Leaf clusters. Carson left the Air Force in 1997 as a Staff Sergeant and remains involved in veterans affairs and supports many other charitable organizations in Matagorda County, where he was born and raised.

Leticia “Letty” Burchard, of our San Antonio Office, served in The United States Coast Guard for 4 years from 1980 to 1984. Letty attended boot camp in New Jersey and was stationed in Long Island, New York. As the “police on water,” the Coast Guard would stop boats to inspect for illegal cargo. Letty oversaw the radio and provided assistance to boaters, responded to accidents, and investigated items in the water with her crew.

Charles Driskell, Maintenance Coordinator, joined The United States Coast Guard in 1983. He was being trained as a Store Keeper E1 but was released due to medical issues.

Cross Creek Ranch Grounds Committee
by Kristen Craig

The success of any community lies with the volunteers who give their time freely.  It goes without words to say that the Grounds Committee in Cross Creek Ranch has spent plenty of dedicated time to help the community look its best!   

The Grounds Committee helps identify projects and objectives to enhance community property and facilities in which the Association has responsibility over. 

The Committee has assisted in monitoring existing landscaping and natural areas within Association property and report any deterioration and any other issues to the Board.  They continuously monitor existing Association facilities and make recommendations as to the areas and/or facilities for additional beautification projects.

C.I.A. Services and the Cross Creek Ranch Community Association would like to thank the Grounds Committee for all of their hard work, time and dedication.  The individuals of the Grounds Commitee are what make communities shine!

Noble November
by Lindsay Scholfield

What Community Means to Me

Our company holds high regard for our core values. We refer to our core values as "SPECIAL," as each letter of that word represents a particular core value. As you may know, C.I.A. Services’ seven core values are:

• Stewardship
• Passion
• Empathy
• Community
• Integrity
• Awesomeness
• Loyalty

In this edition and the upcoming editions of the eNews, we’d like to present our core values in a new way. We asked our employees to submit short articles about what a core value of their choice means to them, in both their personal and C.I.A. Services lives.

This month, we’re featuring the fourth letter of SPECIAL: Community

Community in Catastrophe
by Lindsay Scholfield

We have all heard the phrase, “it takes a village.” Another name for village is Community. C.I.A. Services’ primary function is to help manage Community Associations – your village. So, in a way, we are a part of your village, and we thank you for allowing us this privilege!

Community is something that took on a new meaning to me about a year after I joined the team at C.I.A. Services. At the time, I was working with Cinco Ranch II in Katy, Texas. We were lucky there. So lucky. Somehow, Hurricane Harvey came and went, and our side of Cinco Ranch managed to come out with very little damage. Our neighbors in Cinco Ranch I were not as lucky. They experienced a lot of flooding and a tornado. The devastation was heartbreaking and so close to home.

As the events of the hurricane unfolded, our two Boards (the HOA and Community Council), watched and communicated with us. They were devastated to see what their neighbors were having to endure. It was painful to watch, especially knowing that they were lucky and were dealing with very minor issues in comparison. I listened to both Boards communicate, trying to figure out what to do, and how they could help. They were very impassioned and were desperately trying to find a way to help.

What happened next is a memory that I will forever carry with me, and one that I believe exemplifies what a Community truly is all about. After many emails, a couple of meetings, some website postings, social media messages, and some good ole’ fashioned elbow grease, we were all set to open our community clubhouse, The Lake House, as a donation drop zone. Over the course of the next three days, I watched many, many volunteers help unload vehicles, sort and organize donated materials, and then reload them into other vehicles that carried them to organizations looking for specific items. During this whole time, several volunteers were constantly communicating with local groups to find out what they needed (including several of our Awesome Board members of both Boards). To put this all into perspective, we loaded 37 trucks and SUVS, plus a moving van, to the brim! That’s a LOT of donations!

I got a front-row seat, and it was a spectacular sight to see. I got to see a Community rally together to help their neighbors in their time of need. This was only the beginning, though. From there, I watched people come together to help clean out their flooded homes, bring meals to those who had no power, help take care of 4-legged friends who were affected, and so many other good deeds. Even months after Harvey had come and gone, I was still seeing acts of kindness popup, all in the name of Community.

It’s one thing to say, call me if you need me – to follow through, for your Community, is a truly wonderful thing. Though it has been nearly two years since Hurricane Harvey, I still think about it to this day and how Cinco Ranch II handled the events. It also makes me proud to work for C.I.A. Services and the Awesome Communities they manage! Though my time in Cinco Ranch II has come to an end, I hope that the new community I have joined has a “village” that is just as wonderful. If the people are only a fraction of what I worked with in Cinco Ranch II, I will still be the lucky one, because the Community in Cinco Ranch II is phenomenal!

Community in Our Neighborhoods and Company
by Linda Morris

One definition of community is “A group of people who, regardless of their diversity of background, have learned to accept their differences to communicate effectively and work toward the common good of the group.” In looking at their neighbors, a member of a community looks past ethnicity, religion, level of education, and income and sees instead those who have a common goal to enjoy life in a nice and safe neighborhood with their family and to have a sense of belonging. Being part of a community means contributing your ideas, time, and knowledge to your neighborhood to help make it a better place for everyone – making that community home.

In addition to fostering the sense of community in our neighborhoods, C.I.A. Services also does so within our company with our work family. The founders of our company have stressed for 35 years that it is through the efforts of each and every employee that C.I.A. Services has been successful in redefining and leading this industry to better meet the needs of the homeowners we serve. C.I.A. Services is also a community in that we take care of our own. We pull together and support each other when times are hard and together we celebrate the good times. Through both laughter and tears, we give strength to each other by caring, supporting, and praying – as a community.

We offer each of our seminars in the form of a 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
• The Essentials of Architectural Control
• The Super-Budgeting Process
• Advanced Topics for Board Members

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 on the links above.

Associations in Practice Series

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:

• November - Summerwood Commercial Property Association - Humble Office - Kim Cowart
• October - Clear Creek Forest 13 Property Owners Association - Humble Office - Valerie Lehr
• September - Cedar Springs Homeowners Association - San Antonio Office - Valerie Flinn
• August - Magnolia Heights Homeowners Association - San Antonio Office - Valerie Flinn
• July - Ashcreek Homeowners Association - Humble Office - Kristin Taylor
• June - Aliana Commercial Association - Southwest Houston Office - Deniece Reyes

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.

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

• Heather Ridge Homeowners Association — 28 years
• Lochshire Maintenance Fund — 26 years
• Atascocita West Community Improvement Association — 22 years
• Community Association of The Highlands — 22 years
• Plantation at Woodforest Community Association — 19 years
• Oak Park Ridge Homeowners Association — 16 years
• The Stable Gate Homeowners Association — 15 years
• Heron Nest Owners Association — 12 years
• Bridlewood Estates Property Owners Association —  9 years
• Dancing Bear Property Owners Association — 9 years
• Riverpark on the Brazos — 8 years
• Avondale Residential Property Owners Association — 6 years
• Glenmont Estates Property Owners Association — 6 years
• Walker Ranch Homeowners Association — 4 years
• Plantation Lakes Community Association — 2 years
• Sunrise Pines Homeowners Association — 2 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.

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 one-year anniversary with our company. Additionally, we recognize stockholders on their anniversary month.  C.I.A. Services employees become stockholders after they have been employed for five years.

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.