Mayor Ben Dietz

09/01/2026

Spread the word and vote!

Great recognition just to see Wilmington nominated in so many different categories.

IT’S TIME TO VOTE FOR THE 2026 SCENIC BYWAY AWARD FINALISTS!

The First Annual Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway Awards Gala will be a special evening exclusively for Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway members, celebrating the businesses, communities, attractions, organizations, and individuals who help preserve, promote, and strengthen the Mother Road across Illinois. The inaugural event will take place on November 10th at Ace Sign Company Museum.

It’s time to vote for the incredible businesses, communities, attractions and people who help make Illinois Route 66 the Mother Road we know and love.

Help us vote for the best in each category. Voting is open September 1 and close September 14. ANYONE CAN VOTE!

Begin voting here:
https://bit.ly/BywayAwardNominations2026

Please note: The voting categories feature a selection of eligible Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway members for consideration in this year’s awards.

08/29/2026

Congratulations on 300 career wins!

Decades of success, generations of excellence.

Congratuations to Coach Reents on an exceptional milestone. It takes a village and you, Coach Southall, & Coach Bolser are a cornerstone of what dedication, hard word, commitment , and community are all about.

CONGRATULATIONS

08/26/2026

Today, Wilmington hosted a special guest when Governor JB Pritzker stopped by for not one, but two stops. His first stop was at the iconic Gemini Giant. While here I presented him with his own Gemini Giant bobblehead and thanked him for the state's investment into preserving Route 66 for the next 100 years.

The Govenor also toured the Apprenticeship and Skill Improvement Program (ASIP) Local 150 right here in Wilmington. There the Governor was given a tour of their state of the art and largest of its kinda facility where they train their 24,000+ members from Iowa, Indiana, and Illinois right here in Wilmington.

Having met the Govenor a couple of times before it is always an honor but really cool to see him right here in Wilmington.

Five years ago the Govenor made an effort to begin promoting Route 66 ahead of the 100th anniversary of the route. Over the last 5 years Wilmington has been awarded multiple grants and been a party to others. Those grants have helped us build a new parking lot downtown, open the Landing Pad, create a new park area, build new welcome signs, and of course save the Gemini Giant. In all more than $1,000,000 in direct benefit to our community as well as benefiting our local small businesses.

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On a personal note; I wasn't going to make that post because I have already seen other comments about todays news. Governor, like him or not, is the leader of the 5th largest state in the US and one of the top 20 economies in the world...and he's visiting Wilmington.

We are better than that. We need to be the example and quite frankly a better one.

As Mayor, I don't care if our Governor, Senator, or President of the United States is a Democrat or Republican. I have and will continue to meet with any of our elected officials to help make our community better and do whatever I can for Wilmington.

08/26/2026

South Island Park is now open!

Thank you for your continued patience as our Public Works team has been working to restore not only the South Island, but all over town. The Island Parks still have a significant amount of twigs, sticks, and debris (feel free to help us clean up!!), all of the large debris has been cleared and stacked.

City crews will continue to make additional curbside debris pickup through the residential neighborhoods throughout the remainder of the week. Please continue to be patient. In addition to continuing the storm restoration efforts, Public Works has still been completing the normal everyday tasks of mowing, service repairs, and their everyday tasks.

08/19/2026

Flock Cameras have been a hot topic around the area. There have been quite a few questions asked about the program here in Wilmington and how it's used. Some of those questions raise valid concerns, while other comments include quite a bit of false and misleading information about how it is used here in Wilmington.

I want to get your questions and concerns addressed, as well as dispel some of the inaccurate information about the how and why behind our use of the program here and give some real examples on how this technology is helping keep our community and businesses safe.

Please join me on Wednesday, September 2nd at 6PM at City Hall. I will be hosting an open learning session regarding our use of the Flock Safety Cameras. This session will be at City Hall and will include members of the Wilmington PD as well as a representative from Flock Safety to answer your questions.

In addition, the city has launched a transparency dashboard that provides the public with real-time data about the system here in Wilmington. How long we store the data, who we share the data with, and how many searches have been initiated in the system. The transparency portal is located at https://transparency.flocksafety.com/wilmington-il-pd

08/14/2026

Friday Update

It appears that 99.99% of power has been restored to Wilmington. A huge thank you to all those at ComEd for your efforts.

Island Parks remain closed to vehicles and pedistrians.

Public Works completed initial debris pickups in Northcrest, O'Brian's, and along the East Baltimore Street corridor yesterday. They will continue south today with the goal of completing the entire town by the end of the day today. This is only an initial pass to remove the bulk of the debris. If you were unable to clear prior to the pickup, Public Works will be making additional pickups next week.

West Baltimore Street (IL-53) conitnues to remain closed. ComEd crews are mobilized on site and are working to restore.

Oakwood Cemetary is in need of volunteers to assist in cleanup. They will be starting at 8:00AM. I would encourage anyone able to come help. If your student needs service hours this would be a great opportunity to start the school year off right.

Yesterday I issued an Executive Order declaring a State of Emergency for the City of Wilmington. This allows the city the ability to expidite processes needed to restore our community as well as seek funding should it become available. I have also been in communication with our County Executive, State Representative, State Senator, and the Governor's Staff.

This will be my final update on the storm and our recovery efforts. Thank you again for your continued patience as we get through this.

Looking forward to seeing many of you at Purple and White Night tonight.

We Are Wilmington, We Are One!
🟪⬜️ Go Cats ⬜️🟪

08/13/2026

Thursday Update

ComEd was able to restore service to 1,700 residents yesterday. Aproximately 200 residents remain without power. These services are more complicated due to trees in wires and poles, but ComEd will be working to restore most of these today.

Island Parks Remain Closed - Please stay out of the parks to allow our teams to safely clear the debris.

Public Works will be working to begin the process of clean residential clean up. Please make sure your debris are at the curb and a manageable size.

A massive thank you to Apprenticeship and Skill Improvement Program (ASIP) Local 150 for your assistance. They've bought out the heavy equipment and are ready to help us!

Thank you for remaining patient throughout this. If you're able, please check on your neighbors and see if they need some help.

08/12/2026

We've been through a lot over the last couple of years with storms, ice jams, and flooding. The last 36 hours have been a little "eventful", but we will get through it.

We will get through it thanks to our team.

I cannot begin to thank our Public Works team, Wilmington E.S.D.A., City of Wilmington Police Department, Wilmington Fire Protection District, and Will County Emergency Management Agency . Dedicated professionals. They train all the time for the things we hope never happen.

THANK YOU.

08/12/2026

Morning Update -

West Baltimore Street (IL-53) remains closed pending a ComEd team.

Some side streets in town remain closed due to power lines in the way. City crews will be working today to clear those. The city has also contracted with an outside company to assist in expiting restoration efforts. Please make sure any debris you have is a manageable size and placed neatly at your curb .

Unfortunately power restoration will take some time. I did speak to ComEd this morning and while minor restorations happened overnight, about 2,000 residents are still without power this morning. We are anticipating additional severe storms this morning that will add to the delays. That being said, I am not anticipating any significant movement on power restorations throughout the majority of the day today.

The Island Parks and Park Street remain closed.

Thank you for your continued patience.

08/12/2026

8:15PM Update

South Water Street (IL-102) will be opening within the hour.

IDOT and ComEd will be moving to West Baltimore Street (IL-53) to begin restoration at Stripmine Road.

Some side streets in town remain closed due to power lines in the way.

The Island Parks and Park Street remain closed.

ComEd is active in town and currently working on restoration to distribution first, and then will transition to residential restoration. You can check your specific ETA at the link below.

Our Public Works department will start to work on cleaning up debris from the storm over the coming days. This will take a significant amount of time. Please be patient. Please make sure your debris is at the curb and in a manageable size.

For those residents who have building damage from the storms the City will be waiving associated fees. Staff is also available to assist in helping you fill out the necessary forms and working to expedite the process.

As you have probably already seen, many businesses have been in town or are posting on social media attempting to solicit repair business. Please make sure that you are not being scammed. Make sure that you are using a licensed, bonded, and insured contractor. City Hall has a listing of contractors whom are already licensed to work in town. This list will be published to the cities website tomorrow morning.

While the storm damage is significant and it will take some time to cleanup, take comfort in knowing that no one has been injured. I cannot thank our Public Works, Water Treatment, and Wastewater teams for their effort today. It was an all hands on deck, and they didn't bat an eye. Also a huge thanks to our Police Department, ESDA, and the Wilmington Fire Protection District.