Board authorizes cold water meter testing contract and participation in vendor no-cost water-main pilot

The Goshen Board of Public Works and Safety unanimously authorized the mayor to execute a contract with Vanguard Utility Service Inc. for the 2025–26 cold water meter testing project and separately approved the city—ntering a no-cost customer beta program with Abernethy Schwartz LLC doing business as BlueConduit to pilot a water-main intelligence solution.

City staff said payment for the Vanguard contract will be based on established unit prices for evaluation and testing by meter size and for any parts replaced. The board voted to authorize the mayor to execute the agreement.

Staff told the board BlueConduit pproached the city after the city performed lead-and-copper work with the company and that Goshen—ity performed well in BlueConduit's view. The BlueConduit pilot is no-cost to the city; staff described the anticipated benefit as predictive information about main condition and potential breaks. When a board member asked who would own the data, a city staff member replied, "So under this scenario, it is their their data. We're just participating as a user." Staff also said the pilot had been reviewed by the city's technology department for cybersecurity and related concerns and that the city would evaluate whether to pay for the service in the future if the pilot proved useful.

Both items passed on unanimous voice votes. The motions authorize the mayor to execute contracts and addenda as described in the board packet; no new city budget amounts were disclosed during the meeting except the unit-price basis for the Vanguard work.