Outdoor Theatre Fun

TUTS becomes "Part of Your World" when we present Disney's When You Wish as our annual free show at Miller Outdoor Theatre! This song and dance extravaganza features many of the most memorable songs from popular Disney films including Cinderella, The Lion King, The Jungle Book and The Little Mermaid, among others. Over 71 years of Disney songs come to life on stage in this musical revue that surpasses the "Bare Necessities!"

Disney's When You Wish is sure to revive old memories and create new ones for every generation that has ever been swept away by the magical world of Disney!

Tickets in covered reserved seating are available at the Miller Outdoor Theatre Box Office between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. on the day of the performance. Limit 4 tickets per person.

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 facilite 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/.

Spam a Lot

Every day we waste time wading through unwanted emails send by spammers and hucksters. Do spammers really think we'll rush to open that email for cheap Rolex watches, personal enhancement products or celebrity pictures? Do all spammers have problems with grammar and spelling? Do they think I'll be curious about an email with my name in the subject line? Unfortunately, since spammers can send millions of emails with one click of the mouse, they just need a few people to respond to make their efforts worthwhile.

Because there is no global solution for eliminating spam on the horizon, we all must rely on spam filters. At C.I.A. Services, we have used a few different products over the years and have settled on an internet based filter (Katharion) that is doing a great job. Here are some recent statistics.

Company wide, we receive about 5,000 emails each day. Just over 90% of the emails are spam and trapped by our filter. Interestingly, on weekends, the email traffic is as high as 97% trash.

In the early days of spam, a significant percentage of spam carried malware. Malware contains viruses, trojans, code snippets and other software which can damage your computer. That percentage has continued to drop for a couple of reasons. First, more and more computers are being protected by good firewalls and software that prevent infections and spread of viruses. And second, the spam authors appear to be getting more interested in making money from their craft than seeing how many computers they can crash. Today, we are seeing about one-tenth of one percent of spam that is infected with malware and all that is getting trapped in the filters.

So what can you do? Use good virus software and spam filters. Don't open email that is suspicious. Be a safe web surfer, turn on your pop-up blockers and keep your browser security and privacy settings at medium or higher. Good luck out there!

---

Bandera Office Update

We are getting very close to opening our new Bandera Office in the Hill Country. Our 3600 square foot office building is being built on 1.4 acres of land in Pipe Creek, Texas. Pipe Creek is about 25 miles northwest of San Antonio in Bandera County.

The interior plumbing, electrical and HVAC is complete. Trim, paint, carpet and tile will be completed by mid-June. After that we'll open for equipment setup and staff training. The facility will have our corporate data center and provide accounting and technical services. We will be fully operational and open for business in mid-August. Executive Vice President Tina Jameson has relocated to Bandera and is overseeing the construction, setup, staffing and training for the new office. President Ralph Troiano will relocate in mid-June.

---

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:

• June - Atascocita North Community Improvement Association
  North Office - Brenda Alvarez, Community Manager
• May - Quail Green South Community Association
  Southwest Office - Gina Victor, Community Manager
• April - Brazos Lakes Property Owners 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.

Our popular C.I.A. Services Seminar Series continues. 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. Click here to view the seminar descriptions and schedule.

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.

After you've been on the Board a few months or a few years, you realize that some things are pretty complicated. This seminar has a heavy legal and legislative orientation. We'll dissect the lawsuit process, review foreclosures and bankruptcies, and discuss significant portions of the Texas Property Code and federal law. After all the legal stuff, we'll touch on aspects of "risk management" which includes insurance, reserves and budgeting concepts.

• June 23, 2008 (Monday), 6:30 p.m. - Southwest Office
• June 26, 2008 (Thursday), 6:30 p.m. - North Office

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.

• July 24, 2008 (Thursday), 6:30 p.m. - Southwest Office

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

---

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.

• Cinco Ranch Commercial Association II - Southwest Office - Karen Cooper, Community Manager
• Cinco Ranch Residential Association II - Southwest Office - Karen Cooper, Community Manager
• Cinco Ranch Southwest Community Council - Southwest Office - Karen Cooper, Community Manager
• Cross Creek Ranch Community Association - Southwest Office - Libby Hodges, 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 June.

• Oak Cliff Place Homeowners Association - 16 years
• Atascocita North Community Improvement Association - 14 years
• Vicksburg Community Association - 12 years
• Copper Creek Community Improvement Association - 11 years
• Frostwood Community Improvement Association - 11 years
• Sablechase II Homeowners Association - 6 years
• Silvercreek Community Association - 2 years
• Telfair Community 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 Spotlight

• Congratulations to Gloria Bell on her 19th anniversary with C.I.A. Services. Gloria is a key member of our North Office support staff and a corporate stockholder.
• Welcome to Mary Andrade, a Customer Service Representative, and Darrok Bundick, a summer intern, who joined our North Office last month.
• Welcome back to Joshalyn Richard who returned to our Southwest Office as an administrative assistant.

Gloria Bell		Mary Andrade		Darrok Bundick

Joshalyn Richard