|Photo by Derek Redd| West Virginia Secretary of State Kris Warner, right, talks with Wheeling city leaders Wednesday during a lunch at NB Cafe.

Most people know that one of the main jobs of the West Virginia Secretary of State is as the state’s top election official. Current West Virginia Secretary of State Kris Warner said that won’t be changing anytime soon under his watch. Yet he wants Mountain State residents to know he has another important job – helping the myriad businesses in West Virginia get on their feet and stay there.

Warner was in Wheeling on Wednesday afternoon promoting those business benefits to city leaders from all corners at NB Cafe during lunch sponsored by Regional Economic Development Partnership and the Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce. In attendance were officials from city and county government, finance, economic development and parks and recreation, among others.

Warner said that, in that vein, he’ll be calling upon his 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur and real estate developer, as well as his time as the West Virginia State Director for USDA Rural Development and Executive Director of the West Virginia Economic Development Authority.

“The focus we’re going to make is in trying to help businesses be able to interact with our offices online,” he said. “We have some really neat things we’re doing with that.”

One program is his office’s new Solo Chat Box that can be found on the Secretary of State website. It’s an artificial intelligence program that quickly answers business owners’ West Virginia-specific questions at any time of the day or night.

“We’ve figured out the 900 most asked questions that LLCs and nonprofits ask and we’ve researched it with our attorneys,” Warner said. “They’re going to get the same answer today as they’re going to get a month from now.”

There also is the ability to set up virtual appointments on the office’s website, where a specialist will spend a half-hour answering a business owner’s questions. And if that business owner has follow-up questions, he or she can schedule another meeting with the same specialist, keeping that continuity strong.

The Secretary of State’s office wants to make the process of registering and obtaining licenses both smooth and efficient, Warner said.

“About a month ago, we had a gentleman that came into the office and he had been passed back and forth between the City of Charleston and Kanawha County, and he was frustrated,” Warner said. “We got him into one of our One-Stop Business Shops and he was in, fully licensed, did everything he needed to do with the tax department and the Division of Labor and he was out in 22 minutes.”

While speaking to the dozens of local leaders in attendance, he said that he admired their ability to compromise and work together for the betterment of the city, which was evident in the way Wheeling has grown in the last few years.

“It’s really impressive what you’ve done with this community,” Warner said. “It’s really impressive that you all pull together. You guys are a shining star and it’s worthy of being recognized for that great job.”