Mayor Bill Mutz
- On Lakeland
“Sustainable economic development, growth, opportunity and innovation are dependent on affordable high speed internet access and this is an essential criterion for Lakeland to become a ‘World Class Community.’ City vision and leadership wants to ensure our community has an affordable broadband infrastructure necessary to meet our businesses’ and citizens’ growing demand for high speed access. We will engage local business leaders and service providers, and leverage existing City assets for the greatest affordable benefit to our citizens and community business partners.”
- On Next Century Cities
“We believe Broadband high-speed infrastructure accessibility is critically important to Lakeland’s future. It will be through the insights of Next Century Cities and other concerned organizations that these issues will be properly vetted by both government and business.”
- What Lakeland is working on
The City of Lakeland currently owns and manages over 350 sheath miles of fiber optic cable which is used primarily by the Lakeland Electric utility to manage the electric grid. It is also used by other Departments of the City for business communications. In addition, the City leases some dark fiber to other organizations providing revenue for the City. It is our desire to affordably utilize City resources to the greatest benefit of our Citizens and local businesses. Therefore, a selected consultant will be engaged to help the City create a Broadband Utility Business Plan. The plan will map the future of our fiber infrastructure and consider all aspects of the Lakeland plan and its potential integration with broader Polk County and other regional plans. It is our desire to be progressive locally and to be a cooperative regional partner ensuring our communities have the required Broadband infrastructure necessary to meet the Smart City needs for economic growth and sustainability.
