MISSION STATEMENT

     WATERMARKS

                              SUMMER 2011                                                            

DIRECTORS ELECTED AT ANNUAL MEETING

The GPIWA 2011 Annual Membership Meeting was held on February 22nd.  Members returned 645 valid ballots.  By-Law amendments approved were to Article VIII, Sec 7 and Article VIII, Sec 8.  Mr. Bill Stoelker was elected to serve a 3 year term from Matlacha-East, Dr. Dennis Ward was re-elected to serve a 1 year term from St. James City, Mr. Kent Hines was re-elected to serve a 3 year term from Bokeelia, Mr. Tom Cleaver was re-elected to serve a 3 year term At-Large,  and Mr. Mike Faulkner was re-elected to serve a 1 year term At-Large.  The  Board of Director officers for 2011 are Bill Jacobs-President, Dennis Ward-Vice President, Kent Hines- Treasurer, and Carlyn Herring-Secretary.  The Board meets on the 4th Tuesday of each month at 3:00 P.M. at the Pine Island Center Office.  All members of the Association are encouraged to attend these monthly meetings.

HURRICANE SEASON PREPARATION

Now that hurricane season is here again we wanted to remind our members what to do to protect your water system if you must evacuate .  As those of you who went through Hurricane Charley in 2004 will remember, it took us up to seven days to restore water service to a majority of our customers after the storm passed.  The biggest reason for the delay was because members did not shut off the water service to their homes before they evacuated. Just like shutting down the main electrical breaker to your home, it is important to close the water valve that isolates your house from the water system.  A properly plumbed home will have a water supply isolation valve located between our water meter box (located in the front easement of your home, near the side property line) and your house. We would ask that you make closing your water isolation valve part of your evacuation process. Shutting off your home’s isolation valve will allow GPIWA to restore water service in a damaged neighborhood much sooner after the storm passes.  Now is a good time to check for proper operation of this isolation valve.

EMERGENCY PHONE NUMBER

Pine Island Water will soon be implementing a reverse 911 system to alert our customers to water outages, boil water notices etc.   We also may need to contact you by phone for high usage or other meter reading emergencies.  For both of these we need your emergency phone numbers.  Please write your emergency numbers on the back of your payment stub or mail, email, fax your numbers to the office.

SUBAQUEOUS WATER MAINS

GPIWA has five underwater (subaqueous) water main crossings. All were originally installed in the mid to late 1960’s and have outlived their useful life. Three of the crossings have been replaced; two under emergency conditions after Hurricane Wilma (the Matlacha Bridge and the Sandy Hook Bridge crossings). A third crossing replacement serving the St Jude Harbor neighborhood was completed in February, 2010.

The final two subaqueous crossings, at the Little Pine Island Bridge and the Matlacha Post Office Bridge, have now been replaced.

ACCESS TO YOUR WATER METER

Our meter readers read your water meter once a month.  If the area around your meter is clear, our personnel can quickly and accurately collect  your reading on their first visit to your property.  This helps keep return trips to a minimum, thereby saving vehicle and manpower expenses.  Here are some tips to maintain clear access to your meter:

•  Prune trees, shrubs, and other plantings that block access to the meter box.

•  Minimize plantings  in the areas where meter readers must travel in order to read your meter and maintain a clear path for access.

•  Avoid planting trees and shrubs next to the meter box as they can quickly cover the meter box and roots can damage meters and break your service line.

•  Remove objects placed over or around your meter box.  Such objects include cars, trailers, garbage cans, landscape bark, or decorative rock.

• If you have a guard dog for security, please let us know so we can make our personnel aware of this.  We may ask that you confine your dog on the day we read your meter.

Please keep a minimum clearance of 24 inches around your meter box for shrubs and 5 feet for trees.  This also applies to fire hydrants and blowoff assemblies.

We hope you will assist us in keeping the area around your water meter box clear.  Not only will this help us to prevent damage to your plantings, but it will also allow us quicker access to your water meter in case you might need an emergency water shut off to your home, especially after dark. Thanks in advance for your cooperation.

AUT0 PAY

The option of paying your monthly water bill by automatic deduction from your checking account is available to our customers.  To join the program all that is needed is a completed authorization form and a voided check.  Below is an authorization form you may use or you may pick up a form from the office.  The form is also available for download  from our website (www.pineislandwater.com).   Your checking account will be debited on the last day for payment of each month depending on your billing cycle (the 5th for Bokeelia, the 15th for Matlacha, and the 25th for St. James City).  A monthly bill will continue to be mailed to you so that you have time to check your bill and contact us if you have any questions.

AUTHORIZED AGREEMENT FOR AUTOMATIC WATER BILL PAYMENTS

I (we) authorize the Greater Pine Island Water Association, Inc. to begin debits to my checking account for the amount of my monthly water bill.  This authorization is to remain in effect until I (we) notify the water association in writing of its termination.  The GPIWA may also terminate this agreement with written notice.

Date:_______________                                              Water service account #:_____________

Name as it appears on the water bill:______________________________________________

Service Address:____________________________________________________________

Signature:___________________________________________

PLEASE ATTACH A VOIDED CHECK AND MAIL TO GPIWA, 5281 PINE ISLAND ROAD, BOKEELIA, FL 33922

ON-LINE BILL PAY

The Greater Pine Island Water Association, Inc. is pleased to announce the implementation of on-line credit card payments using Paymentus as a third party automated payment service that accepts Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and Electronic Check.  Customers have a choice of paying either on-line or by automated phone.   Credit card companies charge fees to process credit card payments.  In order not to pass the cost on to all Association members, we chose to contract with Paymentus to provide this service for those customers who choose to pay by credit card.  Pine Island Water does not receive any part of the service fee.  Paymentus can be accessed by  linking to its secure website from Pine Island Water’s website (pineislandwater.com) or calling its toll free number (1-xxx-xxx-xxxx). Customers should have their 10-digit account number (located on your bill)  and your credit card or banking information available.   We are pleased to bring this new feature to our customers and hope that you will take advantage of this quick and easy payment option.

WATERING RESTRICTIONS for GPIWA customers is as follows:

Residential — 4 hours only between the hours of 4 PM and 10 AM.

                      Even addresses—Thursday & Sunday

                      Odd addresses—Wednesday & Saturday

Residential—new landscaping (less than 30 days old) - 6 hours only between the hours of 4 PMand 10 AM on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Non-Residential under 5 acres—4 hours only between the hours of 4 PM and 10 AM onThursday & Sunday.

Non-Residential over 5 acres—8 hours only between the hours of 4 PM and 10 AM onMonday & Friday.