Evansville Board of Public Works Meeting - September 10, 2026
Evansville Board of Public Works Meeting - September 10, 2026
The Board of Public Works met on September 10, 2026 at approximately 1:40 PM to consider a range of agenda items including approval of minutes, a major IT services contract, eight Forward Together Go Grant agreements, engineering contracts, right-of-way permits, METS security and fare system updates, and nine event street closure requests. All items were approved unanimously.
Consent Calendar (Routine Approvals)
- Approved the September 3, 2026 BPW minutes.
- Approved eight Forward Together Go Grant agreements (Finance Ordinance F-2026-10) totaling $106,200: University of Evansville ($10,000 for Rhythm & Rise Promise Neighborhood youth dance company after-school wellness initiative); Mother's Holdin It Down, Inc. ($15,000 for inner-city free basketball league for K-12th grade); Junior Achievement of Southwestern Indiana ($15,200 for City Hall learning center at Discovery Center); Holly's House ($16,000 for BraveBoundaries.org website expansion and digital safety campaign); Dream Center Evansville ($20,000 for Love Your Neighborhood revitalization in Jacobsville); Evansville African American Museum, Inc. ($10,000 for public outdoor display in Baptistown); Vanderburgh County CASA ($10,000 for Kids Day program providing enrichment vouchers).
- Approved agreement with E & B Paving, LLC for 2026 Mill and Overlay Phase III (Project #26-017) at $655,099.63 for milling and overlaying two roads, completion by December 1, 2026.
- Approved agreement with SJCA, Inc. for topographical survey for Idlewild Drive drainage improvement at $29,000.
- Approved Right-of-Way Permit Applications (Nos. 3165-3172, 3174-3187, 3189) with conditions; applications 3173 and 3188 were excepted as the proposed work is outside city limits.
- Approved METS request to advertise/seek bids for security at the METS terminal (replacing current off-duty police contract).
- Approved nine event street closure requests (all approved by Board of Public Safety on 9/9/2026): Harrison Marching Band Invitational (Sept 26, 6 AM-6 PM, northbound S. Cullen Ave and Schoolside Drive); Lincolnshire Front Porch Festival (Oct 4, 1-7 PM, multiple streets); GLNA Block Party (Oct 3, 5-10 PM, Willow Road, Bayard Park, Lodge); Drumstick Dash (Nov 7, 8-9:30 AM, Washington Square Mall area); Jacobsville Trunk or Treat (Oct 30, 3-9 PM, N. Main Street); Hadi Shrine Fall Ceremonial Parade (Nov 14, 3-5 PM, downtown route); Amvets Car Show (Sept 26, 10 AM-5 PM, Broadway); Montessori Academy/EVPL Dia de los Muertos (Nov 7, 12 AM-6 PM, 2000 W. Franklin Street parking spots only); and Signature School Main Street Attractions (Oct 2, 2-10:30 PM, 600 block of Main Street).
- Approved bills and payroll.
Discussion Items
- IT Services Contract (RFP-948-03-2026): The Board approved a five-year managed service provider contract with Sondhi Solutions, LLC d/b/a EXOS for $20,644,666.84. Chief Information Officer Vernon Lutz reported the RFP process was thorough and the contract will result in approximately $5 million in annualized savings for city and county government.
- METS Fare Collection System Upgrade: The Board approved an agreement with Genfare, LLC for $51,774.44 to update fare collection software and computer hardware. METS Director Jonathan Siebeking explained the current system runs on Windows 10, which is being phased out, necessitating the upgrade for security.
Key Outcomes
- All agenda items were approved by unanimous voice votes.
- No public comment or other board business was presented.
- The meeting adjourned.
Note: The agenda initially listed the grant amount for Item A (University of Evansville) as $500,000, but the correct amount is $10,000 as clarified during the meeting.
Meeting Transcript
After some technical difficulties, we will call this meeting of the Board of Public Works to order at 140 p.m. And we will get started with old business. Can I get an approval? Uh a motion for approval for the September 3rd, 2026 BPW minutes. Motion to approve. I will second that. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Moving on to item B, computer services requests approval to award RFP 948-03-2026. The managed service provider MSP for IT services and support to Sondy Solutions LLC doing business as Exos. And Vernon Lutz is here, Chief Information Officer for Computer Services. Good afternoon, board. Uh appreciate your time. Um so yeah, as you read there, we're we went through a process of an RFP with uh purchasing department and the uh purchasing department is recommending that the uh RFP for our uh IT services be awarded to Sondi Solutions LLC uh doing business as uh exos and we are seeking board's permission to move forward. And what is that total contract amount? So the total contract amount over the five years is uh 20 million six hundred forty-four uh thousand six hundred and sixty-six dollars and eighty-four cents over five years. Um questions from the board? No. Motion to approve. I'll second that. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Vernon, congratulations. Thank you. Appreciate it. Big project, and you worked hard on it. Yes, it was a uh a very long process. The committee did a really good job at reviewing this, and uh I'm glad to see what we we can do to approve services and reduce costs. And there's there's about a five million dollar annualized savings uh by doing this. So the the city county government's gonna realize a huge savings. Outstanding thank you. Moving on to new business, item A, the City of Evansville Finance requests approval of an agreement with the University of Evansville for the 2026 forward together go grant to support the rhyme, sorry, the rhythm and rise promise neighborhood youth dance company after after school wellness initiative in the Evansville Promise Neighborhood Schools twice a week for 10 weeks. This is Finance Ordinance F 2026-10 grant amount is 500. That's eight thousand correct. Is that yeah, that right there is not the right amount. What is the correct amount? I don't know. I'd have to say the CAS. I have them all together, so I don't know. Give me come look for it, She Lane. Yeah, that sounds more like it. Yeah, the whole program was 500,000. So this is the Rhythm and Rise Promise Neighborhood Youth Dance Company after school wellness initiative and the Evansville Promise Neighborhood Schools. This is twice a week for 10 weeks. Finance ordinance F 2026-10. And the grant amount is 10,000. Yes, sir. Thank you.
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