April 26, 2024
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Oglesby mayor won’t seek new term in 2023

Rivara, 80, opts against reelection over ‘medical concerns’

By Tom Collins
Oglesby mayor Dom Rivara delivers a speech during the grand opening ribbon cutting ceremony at the new Illinois Valley Regional Dispatch Center on Wednesday, July 13, 2022 in Peru.

Oglesby will have a new mayor next spring. Incumbent Dom Rivara said he will not seek a new term of office. (Scott Anderson)

Oglesby will have a new mayor next spring. Incumbent Dom Rivara said he will not seek a new term of office.

Rivara, 80, said Thursday he plans to finish his term of office but opted against reelection citing unspecified medical issues that have to be addressed. WLPO first reported Rivara’s announcement.

“It comes a time when you’ve got to make that decision,” he said. “I loved what I was doing. We made a lot of progress. I can look everybody in the eye and say that I’m leaving it in better shape than I inherited it.”

Rivara credited “good people on the council” and “some great employees” for helping him through his first and only term.

Rivara ousted Mayor Don Finley in the 2019 elections, taking 63% of the vote in part by wooing skeptics of the Senica Square project, a centerpiece of Finley’s economic development strategy.

Rivara will be remembered for steering the city through the pandemic but also for presiding over the city’s best finances in decades. Under his watch, the city’s tax base swelled thanks to the expansion of Green Thumb Industries and the arrival of the Speedway travel plaza. Last year, the city set records for retail and gaming revenue.