Cat maintains cash dividend; nominates director

Caterpillar Inc. said Wednesday it will maintain its quarterly cash dividend at 70 cents per share of common stock.

Caterpillar’s board of directors voted Wednesday to make the dividend payable May 20 to stockholders of record at the close of business on April 20, the company said in a news release.

"I am pleased to announce we are maintaining Caterpillar's dividend," said Caterpillar Chairman and CEODoug Oberhelman. "In 2014, we kept a strong balance sheet and delivered the third highest operating cash flow in our history. In addition, we returned a record$5.8 billionin capital to stockholders through dividends and stock repurchase. This dividend supports our commitment to deliver superior returns to stockholders through the cycles."

Caterpillar has paid higher dividends to its stockholders for 21 consecutive years, and since 2006 the company's cash dividend has more than doubled.

Including the announcement today, Caterpillar has paid a cash dividend every year since the company was formed and has paid a quarterly dividend since 1933.

Caterpillar will announce its first quarter earnings on Thursday, April 23.

Also on Wednesday, the Caterpillar board nominated Debra L. Reed, chairman and CEO of Sempra Energy, a San Diego-based energy company, to the company's board of directors. The election of board members will be at the company's annual meeting in June. 

Reed, 58, has been with Sempra since 1978.

"Energy is core to our business at Caterpillar, so having a Board member who has spent her entire 37-year-career at one company in this industry will greatly benefit our company," Oberhelman said. “Debbie understands the opportunities and challenges facing the energy industry today, and she knows how to successfully run and grow an international business. She will offer a valuable and unique perspective on our Board.”

Reed, who has been named to Fortune magazine’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business the last four years, is also a board member of Halliburton Company, a supplier to the oil and gas production industries.

Effort to convince Peoria Notre Dame to buy Peoria Stadium is building

A “grassroots effort” to encourage Peoria Notre Dame to acquire Peoria Stadium  ̶  both to preserve it and give Notre Dame the football stadium it lacks  ̶  is picking up steam.

More than 700 people have gone online to change.org to sign a petition urging Notre Dame to sell its land at Willow Knolls and Allen Road and use that money to purchase the stadium from Peoria School District 150, preserving the stadium and surrounding green space and keeping it out of the hands of corporate entities such as WalMart.

The idea is favored by some of the community’s movers and shakers, including some candidates for the District 150 school board, but no public comments have been made by Peoria Notre Dame or the Peoria Diocese, as yet.

“This is a grassroots effort, comprised of concerned Peoria residents, to encourage Peoria Notre Dame High School to purchase the Peoria Stadium. We believe this is an exciting new vision for the residents and the neighborhoods of Peoria! “ says the site on www.change.org as well as a new website, www.pndsos.com, that is dedicated to the effort.

However, none of those concerned residents are identified. “We are a group of alumni, civic leaders, community leaders, and current PND parents with the common purpose to encourage PND to buy Peoria Stadium,” it says. 

Peoria Notre Dame broke ground more than two years ago on the land at Willow Knolls and Allen Roads and has graded much of it with the idea of building a sports complex  ̶  complete with football, soccer, track, baseball and softball facilities  ̶  for the Catholic high school to use. A new high school would eventually be built there, as well.

Peoria Notre Dame currently plays its home games at Peoria Stadium, which it must rent because it has no football stadium of its own.

However, that construction and the Peoria Notre Dame capital campaign behind it has stalled. No official reason has been given, but pndsos.com says it has stalled because of a lack of commitment, and thus funding, from Notre Dame parents and alumni who don’t believe that is the best location.

It believes the Peoria Stadium site is the best location because it is more centrally located for Notre Dame students and families.

“Peoria Stadium is available for purchase and it holds a special place in the hearts of virtually every Peorian who has fond memories of being there as an athlete, coach, cheerleader, parent or fan.  In 2013, the Neighborhoods voiced unanimous support to District 150 for continued sports/recreational use of the historic Peoria Stadium property.

“It is our goal that Peoria Notre Dame High School, with support from civic leaders, the neighborhoods, student body, alumni and donor base sell the property at Allen Road and use the funds to purchase, upgrade, and renovate Peoria Stadium,” the website says. It lists the benefits of doing so as:

• Keeping PND in the center of the City closest to the people and neighborhoods who need it most
• Preserving a recreational green space and Peoria historical landmark
  
  
• Improving ties between the Bergan and AOL/Spalding alumni, bringing them further into the Notre Dame Community
  
  
• Reinvigorating the PND Capital Campaign, by bringing in new and generous donors to what will surely be seen as an exciting opportunity to improve not only PND, but the City and surrounding neighborhoods for future generations of Peorians.

The group behind pndsos.com has put a purchase analysis on the website that it says shows “that purchasing the Peoria Stadium is not only a viable option, but also a financially sound one.” The website further displays the petition signed by virtually every homeowners association in the city opposing the possible sale of the Peoria Stadium property to WalMart last year.

That analysis says it would cost $7.25 million to build the athletic facilities at Willow Knolls and Allen Roads and another $30 million to build a new high school. But that property could now be sold, it believes, for anywhere from $1.4 million to $7.1 million, with it being more valuable to a potential developer because it has already been graded.

While there is no purchase price listed for Peoria Stadium, pndsos.com says District 150 intends to sell it because it is building new athletic facilities at Peoria Central High School and doesn’t want to spend the money it would take to maintain the covered grandstand and other facilities at the stadium.

The stadium site consists of 64 acres with the football stadium and track, the covered grandstand and four lighted softball fields now maintained by the Peoria Park District.

“Purchasing this property would not only give PND immediate use of the stadium and ball fields, but plenty of space to construct soccer fields, tennis courts and an indoor multi use athletic facility (like the one at Galesburg High School). There could be money from the sale of the Allen Road site to fund all or part of the purchase and renovations,” the group says.

Doing this would keep the current Peoria Notre Dame High School as the “academic campus,” rather than building a new high school. However, many feel a new high school is needed to upgrade the technology for Notre Dame students and that the stadium is in need of costly repairs.

But some candidates for two open seats on the District 150 School Board favor this effort, including Dan Walther. He said he sees it as a win-win. “It would be a good deal for District 150 because it would be getting something for the property that would help some with the budget. It would be good for Notre Dame because it needs the facilities and the stadium is much more centrally located. Yes, there would have to be some work done to the stadium, but the amount of repairs District 150 said was needed was greatly exaggerated. The grandstand is structurally sound,” he said.

On the change.org page where people are asked to sign a petition, they also are invited to comment about their reasons for doing so. Most said it was so the local landmark that is Peoria Stadium could be preserved rather than sold to corporate interests, while many others said it was because the stadium site was a better location for the diocese. Many believe the idea makes the most sense.

Attempts to reach anybody connected with the Peoria Notre Dame capital campaign or the diocese to discuss this story were unsuccessful.

So, how would you do the city budget?

Peoria residents will get a chance to fix the city’s upcoming budget deficits and say how they think the city should spend its money next year.

The city is ready to start the 2015 Online Budget Challenge, “an interactive tool that invites residents and business owners to experience the type of policy choices involved in balancing the city’s budget,” according to a news release issued Monday.

From now through May 10 residents can visit www.peoria.budgetchallenge.org to decide how they would allocate available dollars across city services. There is a big caveat, however: Participants must begin with the current budget deficit, an amount that will either increase or decrease, depending on their spending choices, the city said.

“The goal of each participant will be to balance the budget,” the city said in the news release.

Beginning Thursday, April 9, the city will host weekly discussions about the budget and the different departments and line items are affected. That first meeting will be Thursday at 6 p.m. at Renaissance Coliseum at Bradley University. The focus of the meeting will will the city’s administrative services.

The other four budget sessions, all of which will begin at 6 p.m., will be:

• April 16 at the Bonnie Noble Center auditorium at Lakeview; the focus will be the Peoria Police Department.
• April 23 at the Peoria Public Library Main Branch at Main and Monroe streets, lower level auditorium; the focus will be on the Peoria Fire Department and Emergency Communications.
• April 30 at the Peoria Public Library North Branch, 3001 W. Grand Parkway, McKenzie Room, with the focus on the Public Works Department.
• May 7 at Illinois Central College North Campus, Arbor Hall, 5407 N. University St., and the focus will be on Community Development, Economic Development and Library Services.

Residents are encouraged to attend all sessions and also participate online. Those without internet access may use computers at any of the Peoria Public Library locations to take the challenge. Paper comment cards will be also available at each budget meeting.

Feedback from the meetings and results of the online challenge will be compiled by city staff, then presented to the City Council ahead of its budget planning sessions later in the year to get an idea of what citizens are thinking. Nothing from the challenge will be binding to the city.

RLI set to expand Peoria campus

Since the day it was founded 50 years ago, with an office in downtown, RLI Corp. has called Peoria home.

That won’t change in the future as the specialty insurance company, which completed renovations of its corporate headquarters now on the city’s extreme north end just two years ago, is about to begin expanding its campus to prepare for future growth.

RLI officials announced this week it will erect a new 40,600 square-foot building next to its headquarters at Lindbergh Drive and Bird Boulevard that will be capable to housing 100 employees in a state-of-the-art structure that will enable the company to continue to attract the next generation of employees to the community.

“We are proud to be headquartered in Peoria and have a rich, 50-year history of success that is based on our Midwestern roots. This investment in the community reinforces our commitment to Central Illinois and continuing to maintain our business operations here,” said Lisa Gates, assistant vice president of communications.

The $15 million addition will bring the size of RLI’s headquarters to more than 120,000 square feet. A rerouting of Lindbergh will give it a walkable campus, according to the company’s plans. “RLI’s business continues to grow and we are expanding our corporate campus facilities to better support this growth and to provide a modern, collaborative and inspiring work environment for our Peoria-based employees,” Gates said in an email.

Construction will begin this spring and completion is expected in late 2016, the company said.

RLI was founded by Gerald D. Stephens, a native Peorian, who recognized that replacing contact lenses was expensive. He started RLI (Replacement Lens Insurance) at an early stage of the contact lens industry and became the world’s largest insurer of lenses.

The company started in the Lehman Building in downtown Peoria and in late 1971 moved to its present location, into a 23,000 square-foot building constructed for $70,000. The company had 39 employees at the time. It has employs nearly 900 people.

RLI eventually expanded the business, getting into the commercial property and liability insurance field as well as writing a commercial umbrella program. The company earned a reputation for making a profit covering higher risk projects not typically covered by larger, multi-line insurers.

Today RLI offers nearly 50 different types of casualty, property and surety coverages to niche or underserved markets. These include general liability, commercial and personal umbrella liability, commercial transportation, professional liability, and property reinsurance coverages. It has four subsidiaries, including RLI Insurance Co. and Mt. Hawley Insurance Co.

RLI has offices throughout the United States, including in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, St. Louis, San Francisco and Seattle.

RLI is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RLI. With a market cap of $2.3 billion, it normally trades in the range of $50 to $53 a share.