The West Virginia First Foundation, which is responsible for guiding how the state uses money from opioid litigation settlements, has awarded some of the contracts to support the work.
Following a discussion in closed session, members of the foundation board awarded the work for accounting services to Smith Cochran and Hicks of Charleston.
Banking services were awarded to to West Virginia-headquartered United Bank and investment services were split equally between two banks, WesBanco as the lead and United Bank in support. Each had responded to a request for proposal, representing competitive bidding.
The West Virginia First Foundation board also discussed policies for a newly-constituted expert panel meant to advise it, plus a regional panel meant to provide expertise for local decisions.
“This structure will give us broad geographic understanding and distribution of what’s…
