AWWU headquarters would be named for longtime manager Mark Premo

The Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility's headquarters on Arctic Boulevard would become the "Mark C. Premo AWWU Headquarters Building" under a recommendation the Assembly takes up Wednesday, Nov. 4.

The city's Public Naming Commission voted 5-0 for the name, according to its memo. All 49 written comments it received were in favor. The Assembly has scheduled a public hearing for Dec. 1.

Premo ran the utility from 1990 to 2011, longer than any other general manager, through six mayors. AWWU grew from more than 40,000 accounts to more than 55,000 on his watch and won more than 75 awards, according to letters in a 64-page packet from family, employees and water industry leaders.

He also remodeled and expanded the 1968 building that would carry his name, pulling administrative, engineering and customer service staff into one place, the letters say.

"Mark's greatest contribution was not any single project or technological achievement," wrote Craig Woolard, who succeeded him. "It was the organization he built and the culture he helped create."

Premo championed an independent board to oversee the utility, created in 2005. Brett Jokela, general manager from 2013 to 2019, wrote that its repeal in 2011 led to Premo's resignation.

He left in May 2011. Christine Metcalf, who has worked at AWWU since 2005, remembered his last day: "Employees stood throughout the hallway, applauding as he walked by and wishing him farewell."

City policy bars naming a public place for someone until at least 36 months after their death. The commission found the proposal meets that rule.