Matthew Hannon of Las Brisas
by Summer Smith

For this month’s volunteer spotlight, I’m proud to introduce Matthew Hannon of Las Brisas. Matt is a razor-sharp guy originally from Minnesota (yes, he has the accent) and was transferred to Texas for his work as a fighter pilot for the United States Air Force.  Thank you for your service! Though Minnesota is “Home of the 10,000 lakes” Matt agrees that there aren’t any in his home-state that compare to the beauty and pleasure Lake McQueeney has to offer.

Matt purchased his home in 2015 and has been a very active member of the community since.  Matt has been a part of the Las Brisas Board since 2017. Though he is fairly new to the community, he has made quite the impact as an advocate for residents. Matt is extremely friendly and is always the first to step up to the plate to help his neighbors. He utilizes his life experiences to help find creative solutions to many concerns. Aside from his daily duties as President of Las Brisas, Matt initiated a much-needed marina project earlier this year. The project was completed in March 2019 and included the construction of 5 new boat slips, installation of a new irrigation system on the island at the marina, and dredging over 2,500 yards of river silt! 

Matt is also a Friends of Lake McQueeney (FOLM) member. FOLM is a non-profit organization dedicated to maintaining the quality of the gorgeous lake. They recently created a Preservation Committee to take charge of creating a solution to repair the failing dam and ensure reliable and efficient operations and maintenance of the dam short and long term. FOLM’s efforts to support this cause have and will continue to benefit all homeowners, businesses, schools, and wildlife surrounding the Lake McQueeney area. For more information about FOLM, please visit their website or like them on Facebook at Friends of Lake McQueeney – FOLM.

In his free time, Matt is a youth football coach – Go Panthers!, lover of winter sports, enjoys going on afternoon runs, and is very active in water sports. Matt is also a proud father to two beautiful children; a 14-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old son whom he enjoys making lake memories with!

C.I.A. Services and members of Las Brisas would like to thank Matthew Hannon for his years of service to our country and for his continued service to Las Brisas Homeowners Association.  We are truly grateful to have an association volunteer like Matt!

Christmas Tree Donations
by Libby Hodges & Ed Barnett

During the annual holiday party planning at the Southwest Office, one employee came up with a great idea for an office activity. Make your own Christmas tree – totally DIY from scratch. It sounded like a fun and unusual idea for a party, and everyone was on board.  We turned it into a competition with judging held during our annual holiday luncheon on December 2nd.  

We had seven trees submitted.  All of the trees were handmade by employees with unique materials, including wood, yarn, wire, and more!  Kim Moore took the blue ribbon with a tree she made completely out of pasta shells. 

In efforts to spread Christmas cheer, we donated the Christmas trees to The Brookdale Memorial Oaks Assisted Living and Memory Care community who was elated by our generosity. Everyone walked away feeling like a winner.  

After the party, Ed Barnett and Patrick Sheffield delivered the handmade trees to the facility. They who was elated to receive such unique projects! 

The Southwest Houston office has now adopted this facility.  We will be doing things for them throughout the year to show them they are not forgotten and to remind them what Community is really all about.

The trees were all truly unique and the employees had fun! But the most rewarding part is that this small idea for a fun project has grown into an ongoing community project.

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 fifth letter of SPECIAL: Integrity

Integrity
by Cherylyn Gatlin

Imagine you are standing in a busy checkout line at your local supermarket. As the woman in front of you is shuffling through her purse in search of her wallet to pay for her groceries, she quickly jerks her arm from her bag. You notice a crisp 100-dollar bill as it falls from her purse and floats to the ground. It lands on the tile floor before you. The woman didn’t notice the money fall. You look around; neither did anyone else. What do you do? Without thinking, you pick up the large bill and immediately return it to the woman. She is overjoyed and thanks you hysterically!

Integrity is doing the right thing, even when nobody is looking. At C.I.A. Services, Inc. we daily strive for that type of moral honesty. Whether we are helping one another in the office or assisting our clients day-to-day, you are sure to find strong moral principles in each of us that represent C.I.A. Services, Inc. as a whole. That is what makes us S.P.E.C.I.A.L.

I am grateful to work for a company that thrives on its core values, and I am proud that integrity is one of those core values that we honor every day.

Integrity in Life and the Workplace
by Briana Ashe

For me, integrity is the result of a strong moral foundation and is a quality I strive to uphold. When I was growing up, honesty and integrity were not only encouraged, it was expected of me. With this encouragement, I have grown to be an ethical woman.

My coworkers and I bring this quality to work every day. By doing the right thing with conviction, compassion, and courage, we will earn and keep the respect of the people we touch. Without upholding our integrity, as a company, we could become broken and experience negativity. Without integrity, we lose the trust of our clients, lose the client, and we lose quality employees.

Employment is given with the trust that the person being hired will keep their end of the bargain by completing the necessary work they’ve been assigned. When I was hired at C.I.A. Services, I was determined to complete my tasks to the best of my ability. I bring the integrity that my parents instilled in me every day to work. I feel confident in the service I provide as a Community Specialist, thanks to my integrity.

Be True to Yourself
by Cassandra Trevino

For me, integrity begins when I wake up every morning and lasts until I go to sleep at night. It affects everything in my life.  I must apply integrity in how I raise and nurture my children, how I dress, and how I communicate with others, just to give a few examples. I am self-aware and do what is necessary to uphold my integrity.

Integrity is being truthful to myself and illustrating a learned cycle of good character.  It is being accountable and truthful to myself so that I can do what is right no matter where I am.  And it is giving others the benefit of the doubt, as I would like in return.

At work, doing the right thing is expected of all employees.  We apply integrity when listening to others’ needs and unify owners within our communities.  The value of integrity within the walls of C.I.A. Services provides me with a healthy workplace.  

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:

• December - Plantation Lakes Community Association - Humble Office - Linda Morris
• 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

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 December.

• Lincoln Green Estates Community Improvement Association - 26 years
• Quail Green South Community Association - 15 years
• West Bend Community Improvement Association - 5 years
• White Oak Ranch Homeowners 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.

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 first anniversary with our company. Additionally, once employees reach five years and become a company stockholder, we recognize them each year on their anniversary month.

Maintenance Coordinator Dawna Woods of our Humble office is celebrating 23 years with our company! Dawna is the mother of 3 boys and the grandmother to 3 beautiful girls.  When she is not at work or with family, she enjoys the theater and bargain hunting with her mom.  

Libby Hodges is celebrating her 14th anniversary with C.I.A. Services.  She is a Community Manager at our Southwest Houston office.  She enjoys spending time with her grandchildren whenever she can.  She is also known for her baking skills and always treats the office to her wonderful cherry dump pie. 

Administrative Assistant, Alicia Adams, is celebrating her 6-year anniversary this month! Alicia assists with several communities in our Humble office and is a great asset! Outside of the office, Alicia enjoys baking, sewing, and knitting. She is also very active in Live Action Role Playing (LARP) groups.

Kimberly Cowart is celebrating her 6th year with the company! Kim is a Community Manager from our Humble office, and recently received the Professional Community Association Manager (PCAM) designation! Kim is incredibly nurturing and is always willing to provide a listening ear or helping hand to a coworker.

Congratulations to MJ Gonzales for reaching 5 years with C.I.A. Services this December! MJ is our newest stockholder and is an Administrative Assistant from our Humble office. She’s a great help to community members and always willing to help out where needed. Outside of work, she loves fitness and is a member of Breaking the Chains, a ministry dedicated to helping the homeless.

Congratulations to these special people on their company anniversary!

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.