TIFTON — City council members offered their gratitude to one of their hardest and longest workers at the Oct. 8 city council meeting.

City gas administrator Donna Pate received thanks and congratulations for her more than 40 years of service to the city and for going above and beyond to support the public works department.

Pate began working with the city in 1981, working on bookkeeping and being responsible for setting up Tifton’s first mainframe computer. She changed gears to utilities in 2001, operating with the gas, water, and sewer departments, before becoming gas administrator in 2006, a position she has held to this day.

Mayor Julie Smith expressed her admiration for having such a dedicated person operating in public works, asserting that Pate had given a great deal of time, energy, and effort to ensuring the department continued to run smoothly.

She noted that Pate had worked with ESG for 10 of the 43 years they were celebrating, but insisted that the city and contractor were “all family,” and Pate’s achievements and hard work still deserved to be celebrated.

Adam Cobb, ESG division manager, was also proud to count himself among Pate’s company, particularly speaking on the positive effect she had on the public works department. He noted that he had not seen people return to their former workplace to visit an old friend as former city employees continued to do with Pate.

Cobb presented Pate with a plaque commemorating her years of service to the city and thanking her for, as he put it, “keeping us corrected,” and promised the public works department would continue to celebrate the occasion with her throughout the week.