Evansville Water and Sewer Board approves $9.58 million Lloyd Expressway water‑main relocation, multiple contracts and budget adjustments

The Evansville Water and Sewer Utility Board on Jan. 7 elected Steve Heidorn board president and Mike Weber vice president, awarded a $9,576,855 construction contract for a water‑main relocation on the Lloyd Expressway, approved a new legal services agreement and several small intra‑budget transfers, and authorized the utility to invest certain waterworks accounts in certificates of deposit with banks outside the city limits.

The motions advance a series of operational and procurement items the utility staff said are needed to support ongoing construction, maintenance and administrative functions. The board approved each item by voice vote during the meeting at the Sunrise pump station.

Ryan Meyer, a utility staff presenter, asked the board to approve awarding the Lloyd Expressway — Teal Cupel Avenue to Ninth Street — water‑main relocation project to Blankenberger Brothers Inc. Meyer said the recommendation covers the base bid plus mandatory alternate 1 and that the low bidders’ submissions were reviewed by design consultant United Consulting and the city purchasing office. "All of the items that were submitted in the bid package by Blankenberger were deemed to be in compliance with our specifications," Meyer said. He told the board the winning award is about 7.8% above the engineer's estimate of $8,880,000 and noted that a clerical error on another bidder's submission increased that bidder's apparent total but did not change the recommendation.

Meyer said the utility has an executed agreement with NDOT that will reimburse the water portion of the work and that staff is still negotiating reimbursement terms with NDOT for the storm‑sewer portion. "Once we resolve the terms of that agreement, we are also seeking full reimbursement of that as well," he said.

The board also approved a legal services agreement to retain Marco DeLucio of Zeimer, Stayman, Weinsel and Shoulders LLP to provide general counsel services to the utility. Vic Kelson said DeLucio "helps us with a lot of different legal issues that come up" and serves as the board's attorney.

Other items approved on staff recommendation included:

- A consent agenda incorporating minutes from Dec. 17, 2024; payroll disbursements for the weeks ending Dec. 15 ($410,021.03), Dec. 22 ($167,853.37) and Dec. 29 ($433,214.11); a sanitary‑sewer extension for Huck's Lynch Road and Max Road; and creation of a software engineer position (level 3) in IT.

- A resolution allowing the utility to invest waterworks accounts in certificates of deposit with banks outside the city's boundaries, primarily to manage State Revolving Fund (SRF) and operating investments held by the Bank of New York and other approved banks.

- Several small intra‑budget reappropriations to close 2024 shortfalls: $11,000 for computer services, $10,000 for water IT staffing and $210.74 for water operations support (PERF fund shortfall).

- A one‑year pest control agreement with Action Pest Control for $3,580 (quarterly service) for preventive treatment of city facilities.

- Approval of a master lease agreement with Enterprise Fleet Management to allow the utility to solicit vehicle leasing quotes from Enterprise in addition to its current provider, Sternberg Leasing. Staff said the change is intended to improve competitive pricing for roughly 90 leased vehicles and noted Enterprise participates in Sourcewell procurement programs.

Board members paused near the end of the meeting to thank utility staff for responding to a recent storm event, including downed trees, lift‑station outages due to power loss and frozen equipment. The board set its next meeting for Jan. 21 at 3 p.m. at the Sunrise pump station and adjourned.

Votes at a glance

- Elect Steve Heidorn president — motion approved by voice vote. - Elect Mike Weber vice president — motion approved by voice vote. - Approve consent agenda (minutes, payroll, sanitary‑sewer extension, add IT position) — approved by voice vote. - Award contract: Blankenberger Brothers Inc — Lloyd Expressway, Teal Cupel Avenue to Ninth Street Water Main Relocation — $9,576,855 — approved by voice vote. Staff noted ~7.8% above engineer's estimate and pending NDOT storm‑sewer reimbursement negotiations. - Approve legal services agreement: Zeimer, Stayman, Weinsel and Shoulders LLP (Marco DeLucio) — approved by voice vote. - Approve resolution: allow investments in CDs outside city limits for waterworks accounts — approved by voice vote. - Repeal and reappropriate funds for computer services — $11,000 — approved by voice vote. - Repeal and reappropriate funds for water IT department — $10,000 — approved by voice vote. - Repeal and reappropriate funds for water operations support (PERF) — $210.74 — approved by voice vote. - Approve pest control agreement: Action Pest Control — $3,580 (annual, billed quarterly) — approved by voice vote. - Approve master lease agreement with Enterprise Fleet Management — approved by voice vote.

Quotes and attributions in this article are drawn from public remarks made during the Jan. 7 meeting. When a speaker's full official title was not stated on the record, the article attributes remarks to a board member or staff member as indicated in the transcript.