City Manager Sean Shirelles presented the City of Lakeland’s process improvement award on Tuesday to fiber operations technician David Tate, recognizing his work leading several fiber projects that staff said saved the city roughly $60,000 and avoided nearly nine months of contractor delays.

Shirelles said Tate, who has worked for the city since January 2012, independently designed and implemented three citywide fiber rings as part of the Summit Broadband contract and led fiber reconfiguration work during the Macintosh Power Plant Unit 3 demolition, a project staff described as technically complex because Unit 3 was a fiber hub for east‑side communications.

"Because of David's initiative and the decision to handle the design internally and source materials directly through the city, we can calculate he has saved the city over $60,000 that we would otherwise have paid to contractors," Shirelles said. The award carries a $1,000 recognition stipend.

The manager also noted Tate’s role in the Pipkin Road widening project and in layout and coordination for Macintosh Unit 3 work, including handling design responsibility for 40 fiber cables and 75 distribution panels.

Why this matters: Internal technical expertise reduced contractor costs and schedule risk on several infrastructure projects and allowed the city to meet obligations under the Summit Broadband agreement on an accelerated timeline.