2019 is the 20th anniversary of the creation of the Wood County Port Authority. It was not always known at the Wood County Port Authority, not was its genesis as a County Wide Port Authority. It initially grew out of a relationship between the City of Rossford and Perrysburg Township and was initially focused on the development of the Crossroads area located in Northern Wood County.
Following many years of growth, the Wood County Commissioners recognized the benefit of having a county-wide Port Authority as part of the development tools to which they had access. In 2008, the Wood County Commissioners, the Perrysburg Township Trustees and the City of Rossford came to an agreement to make what was then known as the “Joint Economic Development Authority of Perrysburg Township and the City of Rossford” (JEDA) into a county-wide Port Authority to be known as the Wood County Port Authority.
The County Commissioners recognized that with this addition they had two arrows in their development quiver: the Wood County Economic Development Commission (WCEDC) which was the promotional arm of attracting and retaining businesses within the Wood County area, and the Wood County Port Authority which does the blocking and tackling (i.e. coordination, facilitation and funding) allowing Wood County to score by retaining or attracting new businesses to Wood County like Amazon, Home Depot, First Solar, OI and many others.
