HILL AIR FORCE BASE — Hill Air Force Base’s de facto mayor is leaving her post.

In a press release, Hill’s 75th Air Base Wing Public Affairs Office announced this week that Col. Jennifer Hammerstedt will relinquish command of the wing, leaving Utah for a new assignment at the Pentagon. Hammerstedt will be replaced by Col. Jon Eberlan.

As the base’s installation commander, Hammerstedt served in a position similar to that of a city mayor. According to the base press release, she was responsible for the Air Force’s second largest base by population and geographical size.

The 75th ABW oversees more than 1 million acres and over 1,300 facilities worth an approximate $6.5 billion.

The wing also supports the Air Force’s Ogden Air Logistics Complex, the Life Cycle Management Center, Nuclear Weapons Center ICBM Directorate, the 388th and 419th fighter wings, the Utah Test and Training Range and more than 60 other associate units — a collection that includes more than 26,000 employees.

According to her Air Force bio, Hammerstedt was commissioned as an officer in 1996 after graduating from the Air Force Academy. She has led flight line maintenance and munitions operations at six different Air Force wings and has deployed in support of Operations Northern and Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn.

Eberlan is familiar with the base, most recently serving as commander of Hill’s 309th Aircraft Maintenance Group.

You can reach reporter Mitch Shaw at mishaw@standard.net. Follow him on Twitter at @mitchshaw23 or like him on Facebook at Facebook.com/MitchShaw.StandardExaminer.