Pirates of the Medina

The Pearl of the Medina listed fore as it drifted the Medina River after a fierce battle with the Spaniards. The ruthless minions of Queen Isabella pierced the fog and let loose a barrage of cannon shot which severed the back end of the Pearl. But even with half a ship, Jack Sparrow and his crew, fought bravely and dispatched the Spaniards to their destiny at Davey Jones' side. The surviving rouges shadowed the Pearl along the shoreline ... taunting their crippled ship and inciting the native peasants to mount attacks with water balloons (!?!). Cap'n Jack defiantly faced the onslaught with raised scabbard and pressed his weary crew to fire the cannon to pummel the crowd with t-shirts (!?!).

And thus was the battle on the Medina River on June 25th and the 14th annual Bandera Riverfest. C.I.A. Services created a unique float and story line to entertain the crowds during the popular "The Great Hill Country Anything That Floats Regatta". As four pirates manned the ship, four more chased on the shoreline. The crowd loved the good fun, enjoyed catching specially designed t-shirts for the event and trying to hit Cap'n Jack with mini water balloons. Youngsters swinging from the massive cypress trees lining the river tried to board the ship but landed with big splashes, being more interested in soaking the pirates.

In the end, C.I.A. Services' Pearl of the Medina won 1st Place for Creativity and 1st Place Overall. That adds to our 1st Place Overall win in 2010 for our floating Corvette.

Thanks to our amazing craftsmen and crew for creating Medina memories and setting the bar very high for 2012:

• Crew of the Pearl:
• Ralph Troiano as Captain Jack Sparrow
• Roseann Ashe - cannon loader
• Brenda Ellington - lookout with spyglass
• Tina Jameson - cannon aim & fire
• Onshore rogues:
• Patrick Sheffield
• Paula & Gary Lunsford
• Felicia & Nehemiah Dungy
• Behind the scenes:
• Structural design & propulsion - Ralph Troiano
• Lead carpenter - Philip Thomas
• Carpentry assistants - Eddie Castro, Scott Tyra & Ralph Troiano
• Painters - Roseann Ashe, Tina Jameson, Kerry Dowda & Ted Arcos
• Cannon prototype & ballistic calculations - Sean Foley
• Props - Ralph Troiano, Annette McConnell & Tina Jameson
• Costumes - Roseann Ashe, Tina Jameson & Annette McConnell
• Makeup - Amanda Hazen

The event was covered by San Antonio and local newspapers and featured on KENS-5 News. Click here to see some photos of the action. Until next year, fair winds, good matey!




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New Legislation Seminar

Some of the most significant changes in the laws affecting community associations in Texas occurred in the recently completed 82nd legislative session. These laws place many new burdens on how associations operate and further restrict community association authority. Some of the laws went into effect on June 17th, some will go into effect on September 1st and the rest will start on January 1st.

Attorneys and management companies are working to understand the impact of the changes and to modify procedures and policies to comply with the laws. Over the next several months, every community association in Texas must take a number of actions to comply. Every Board member must understand the new obligations.

In August, we will hold seminars to communicate the impact of the new laws. We'll present the information from a practical standpoint providing examples of how operations will change. We'll provide sample documents that must now be filed in the county public records for every community association. Every Board member should attend but we would like to see at least one from each community. The seminars are free and we'll have light refreshments and a nice handout.

• August 23, 2011 (Tuesday) - 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. - North Office
• August 24, 2011 (Wednesday) - 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. - Southwest Office
• August 25, 2011 (Thursday) - 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. - Bandera Office

Please register in advance by calling 713-981-9000 or 210-490-0000 or by emailing seminars@ciaservices.com. Based on the number of registrations, we may move the seminars to larger venues or schedule additional seminars the following week.




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Volunteer Recognition:
Jim Arenz
Marina Bay Park Community Association
by Dannielle Chiodi-Jones

Secretary David Thompson, Treasurer Russ Wilkins, Vice President Gene Taylor, League City Mayor Timothy Paulissen, President Jim Arenz, Director Wes Tarkington, Director Ken Johnson

James (Jim) E. Arenz has served his country as a distinguished veteran of the United States Army ascending to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, both as Army aviator/helicopter pilot for a period of 15 years, and engineer in the Army Corps of Engineers for a period of 10 years, including two tours of duty in Vietnam. He served the Houston Metropolitan Region for a period of 14 years as Director of Facility Operations and Maintenance for the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County.

Jim has been a citizen of League City for 17 years. He was elected as Director and President of the Marina Bay Park Community Association in March of 2008. During his tenure he has conserved over 2.6 million gallons of water usage in the community. He has saved the residents approximately $15,000.

His dedication to the betterment of his community has resulted in improved landscaping as well as many other projects throughout the community. He is an advocate of fiscal responsibility and will question an expense as to why it is needed and/or how it will benefit the community. Mr. Arenz exemplifies what a great Board member is by making sure the decisions made by the Board are truly needed and that they are in the best interest of the community.

Jim has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to community service, both small and large. He will move from the League City area and as a result conclude his volunteer duties as President of the Association on June 20, 2011.

Tim Paulissen, the 9th Mayor of the City of League City has proclaimed the day of June 21st, 2011 as "James E. Arenz Day".

We all have recognized and commended Jim for his outstanding efforts in promoting a more cost-effective and beautiful community within League City.




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Coming Soon

www.ciaservices.com debuted around the time we were all breathing a sigh of relief that Y2K didn't destroy all technology (that seems so long ago). It has served us well but it's time for an upgrade. In a few months we'll be introducing our new and improved website.

It will continue to have all the returning features you've grown to know and love:

• No login required for owners to access community documents
• Secure online payments with credit cards or electronic checks
• Online elections using PIN for validation
• Online surveys and registrations
• Page updates by Community Website Administrators
• Library, Links and vendor referrals
• Community of the Month

We are thrilled about all the new features you'll see:

• New, fresh interface
• Full compatibility with all browsers - suitable for viewing on smart phones
• Board member login for numerous reports
• New and improved interface for surveys, registrations and elections
• Easy and flexible interface for Community Website Administrators
• Searchable PDF documents
• Illustrated glossary
• Extensive FAQs

As we get closer to launch, we'll announce the webinar training classes for board members or other volunteers who would like to be Community Website Administrators.




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No Phishing

There have always been very bad people out there who want to separate you from your money. It's worse when those people are very smart and spend their whole day coming up with new ways to do it. With the internet, their incentive is huge because they can do their dirty work anonymously and have millions of compliant victims coming to them. It's like shooting fish in a barrel.

We have all heard over and over to not open emails that look suspicious that have slipped through all of your spam filters. But phisherman are tricky. Phishing (1) is a technique where the bad guys casts a hook to millions of email addresses with some interesting or enticing information hoping someone bites. If you take the bait by clicking a link or opening an attachment, all sorts of malicious things can happen. Their goal (2) is to get your financial information, passwords and other information that will allow them to impersonate you and steal your money.

Recently a homeowner in one of our communities received a spear phishing email asking her to set up an ACH draft to pay her HOA dues. She was suspicious since she had already paid her dues in January and, although the email looked like it came from a bank, the sender's email address was from "aol.com" and not a bank. She contacted our office, forwarded the email to us and did not fall for the bait. We sent the evidence to Mutual of Omaha Bank and here's what they asked us to pass on:

We have recently learned of an online banking scam circulating to consumers via email. The email asks the recipient to create an ACH (Automated Clearing House) transaction to submit a one-time payment for their HOA dues online at cabanc.com. The email is fraudulent; DO NOT reply to this email. While phishing for personal financial information has been a long-standing practice, criminals are increasingly phishing for access to other corporate accounts to steal passwords and other account identifiers. Mutual of Omaha Bank is not affiliated with this email and is working hard to identify the source. Spear Phishing email scams continue to evolve and pose old threats with new twists, in this case capturing personal information under the guise of using our website to make a payment. The communication may look legitimate and the rationale sound reasonable; however, avoid responding to email requests to make a payment or update your account, especially if it requires a short notice and is accompanied with warnings. Make a habit to enter the URL address of any banking, shopping, auction, or financial transaction website and do not depend on displayed links. When in doubt call, the company originating the email or use the company website address (using a telephone number or Web address you know to be credible) to check for legitimacy. To stay safe from these types of attacks, never give out your personal financial information in response to an unsolicited phone call, fax or email, no matter how official it may seem. Also, do not respond to email that may warn of dire consequences unless you validate your information immediately. Please be vigilant and continue to practice safe email habits. If you have any questions or to report any unusual activity, contact our Customer Service Center immediately at 866.800.4656 Monday through Friday, 7 a.m.-7 p.m.

Don't be a phish - practice safe surfing!

1. The word phishing alludes to using email lures to fish for sensitive information from a sea of unsuspecting internet users. Using "ph" at the beginning is a nod to the original hackers who compromised the phone system switches to make free long distance phone calls - they called themselves "phone phreaks".
2. In the good old days of the early internet, we used to worry about hackers that wanted to load something bad on our computer that would wipe our hard drive and laugh at us. Hackers used to want to break into high security computers just for the for bragging rights. We don't see those things much anymore - there's no money in it. The modern hacker is a criminal.



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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:

• July - Silverglen North Homeowners Association
  North Office - Roxanne Bailey, Community Manager
• June - Telfair Community Council
  Southwest Office - Libby Hodges, Community Manager
• May - Cross Creek Ranch Community Association
  Southwest Office - Amanda Jensen, 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.




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Anniversaries

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

• East Point Community Association — 21 years
• Inwood Northwest Neighborhood Association — 10 years
• Royal Palms Homeowners Association — 7 years
• Community Association of Crockett Park — 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.




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Employee Spotlight

• Congratulations to Roxanne Bailey, Linda Morris and Annette Escarenio, community managers at our North Office, on receiving their Certified Manager of Community Associations designation. The CMCA is a national designation which recognizes individuals who have demonstrated the fundamental knowledge required to manage community associations.
• Good job to community managers Linda Morris and Annette Escarenio from our North Office and Kim Moore and Amanda Jensen from our Southwest Office for passing their M-203 "Community Leadership" class on their way to their Professional Community Association Manager (PCAM) designation. The PCAM is the highest national designation in the industry.
• Welcome two new employees to our Southwest Office: community manager Marci Birthisel and administrative assistant Nicole Toland.
• Welcome two new, onsite employees that joined us earlier this year. LaShan Arceneaux is our community assistant at Telfair Central Hall for the Telfair Community Association in Sugar Land and Olene Kelly is our community assistant at the Cinco Ranch Lakehouse for the Cinco Ranch Residential Association II in Katy.



Roxanne Bailey	Annette Escarenio	Linda Morris

Kim Moore	Amanda Jensen	Marci Birthisel	Nicole Toland

LaShan Arceneaux	Olene Kelly





C.I.A. Services, Inc. www.ciaservices.com Toll Free: 866-219-0563
Southwest Office 3000 Wilcrest Drive, Suite 200 Houston, Texas 77042-3390 Phone: 713-981-9000 Fax: 713-981-9090	North Office 8811 FM 1960 Bypass, Suite 200 Humble, Texas 77338-4023 Phone: 281-852-1700 Fax: 281-852-4861	Bandera Office 465 Bear Springs Road Pipe Creek, Texas 78063-3178 Phone: 210-490-0000 Fax: 830-535-4265


(c) 2011 C.I.A. Services, Inc.