New Treasurer Visits Northern Panhandle
Joselyn King Trending
WHEELING -- A Wheeling Nailers game, shooting guns at Guntry-West Virginia, meeting with local officials and touring a new child care facility were all in a day for new West Virginia Treasurer Larry Pack.
Along the way, he also got to deliver checks from his office's Unclaimed Property Fund to both the city of Moundsville and the Nailers organization.
Pack on Friday presented a $6,896 to Moundsville City Manager Rick Healy during a stop at the city's municipal building. According to information from the State Treasurer's Office, the amount is made up of 17 different properties owed the city. Most of the funds are from H&R Block for "miscellaneous checks."
"From your project next door (construction of a new municipal building), it sounds like you might put it to good use," Pack told him.
Healy said the money would be put into the city's general fund.
"We won't have any specific earmark for it," he said. "Who knows, we may buy something special for the city building with it. We haven't bought any artwork yet for the city building, so maybe we'll use it for something like that."
Later in the day, Pack presented a check for $4,175 to the Wheeling Nailers during their game. A large portion of that amount was attributed to an uncashed check from West Virginia Northern Community College.
Pack said unclaimed funds come to the State Treasurer's Office from "so many different directions." Often it's money found in a vacant account, a refund, or an uncashed check that has been passed on to the office.
"One of the things we do in the Treasurer's Office is we search out unclaimed property and get it back to its rightful owners as quickly as we can," Pack said.
Pack and his wife Lisa - who are both certified public accountants -- even learned recently they had a small sum due to them from the Unclaimed Property Fund account.
"We found enough money for dinner, so it worked out well," he said. "I encourage everyone to go to the West Virginia Treasurer's Office website and search the unclaimed property site.
"If you put your name and address in, it may come up that you possibly have unclaimed property. It won't say the amount. You fill out the application and we get right back to you."
The website can be found at wvunclaimedproperty.gov.
Also on Friday, Pack reported visits to the new Guntry-West Virginia location at The Highlands - and that he even got to shoot a few rounds while there.
He had meetings with WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital officials and spoke with Ohio County Administrator Randy Russell. He also toured the new child care center operated by Newbridge Church.
Pack also had a discussion with Regional Economic Development employees regarding how prospective legislative actions could affect development projects in the Ohio Valley.
Between events there was lunch at Figaretti's and a planned stop for a sandwich at Coleman's Fish Market.
Pack predicts prosperity in the Northern Panhandle as he sees many plants along the Ohio River being reworked and becoming operational.
"We love the kind of remaking of the Northern Panhandle," Pack said. "It's exciting to see some of the projects come to pass. It's also exciting to see some of the projects we think are going to be announced soon."