"Our goal is to return the funds to their rightful owner"

DIXON, CA (MPG) - Most people don't read the Legal Notices in the local newspaper but there was one notice recently that may have caught one's eye titled, "Unclaimed Funds." It appears that the City of Dixon is having difficulty returning a couple deposits and decided this might be the "better route" to find the rightful owners.

The sum of $9,920.65 was listed to payee Contra Costa Land Investment Co., LLC and the other amount of $1,686.89 was to Milk Farm Associates.

"We have reached out to the addresses and there's been no response so this is the next step," said City of Dixon Finance Director Kate Zawadzki. These monies could have been a deposit made upon plans to potentially develop a property or business that weren't ultimately developed, she explained, but nonetheless they are needing to be returned.

A simple search by this reporter also ended unsatisfactorily although Paul Sandner Moller was involved in a plan to develop the old Milk Farm site several years ago and a deeper search turned up a website, address, and phone number.

Moller, 75, is a professor emeritus at the University of California and Davis resident renowned for his dedication to develop a flying car. Considered a genius, his real estate developments helped fund the research and that included the plan to develop Dixon on the other side of the freeway in 1997 where the Milk Farm Restaurant used to thrive. Plans dissipated when then-Dixon City Manager Nancy Houston did not support the effort. According to Moller, Goodwill was to build a store and training facility there but would not provide enough sales tax benefits to the City.

Moller had reason to be upset. His credentials included the development in 1980 of the Davis Research Park, a 38-acre major business development in South Davis with UCD academic and records building, Sacramento City College, several restaurants, a hotel, auto repair businesses, a Kaiser Clinic, and Moller International.

He was unaware of the funds left with the City of Dixon and will be contacting them, he said. The other company is still being researched.

The funds have been held for at least three years by the City according to the legal notice and if not claimed by March 31, they become part of the city's general fund.

"It's unusual to have this size," said Zawadzki. "Hopefully someone will see it and contact us.

Our goal is to return the funds to their rightful owner."

The combined dollars would be enough, however, to develop a small playground at the new La Esperanza Park site if they would be donated by the two companies.