About Us

Our History

The Wood County Port Authority, originally organized in 1999 by the City of Rossford and the Perrysburg Township as a Northwestern Wood County Port Authority, but later through the wisdom of the Wood County Commissioners, became a Countywide Port Authority. Under Wood County leadership, it is a separate and independent unit of local government which is governed by a 7 member Board of Directors. Five of the Directors are appointed by the Wood County Commissioners while one is appointed by the City of Rossford and the other appointed by the Perrysburg Township Trustees.

What is a Port Authority and What Can it Do?

Port Authorities are quasi-governmental agencies created by the Ohio Revised Code. The code provides that the Wood County Port Authority can pursue “Activities that enhance, foster, aid, provide, or promote transportation, economic development, housing, recreation, education, government operations, culture and research.”

Port Authority Facilities Defined

The Ohio revised code provides that Port Authority facilities can be “Real or Personal Property, or any combination thereof, that is owned, leased, or otherwise controlled or financed for, or in furtherance of, one or more authorized purposes.” This enables the Wood County Port Authority to own, lease and finance land, buildings and equipment for credit worthy companies domiciled within our County or interested in locating facilities within the community. It enables the Port Authority to partner with existing governmental entities to help them achieve objectives that they may not be able to otherwise achieve by themselves.

Our Mission

The Wood County Port Authority’s mission is to facilitate innovative, financial, and operational solutions through economic development by partnering through, among, and between governmental and private entities. Wood County’s Port Authority is aimed at promoting job growth, quality of life improvements, and the protection and promotion of economic development, commerce and infrastructure in Wood County.

For Projects in Wood County that have taken advantage of the PORT AUTHORITY financing or leasing assistance go to success stories.

Our Goals

Goal	Definition	Measure
Stakeholders	Port Authority is a key partner with: the County Commissioners, County Governmental Agencies, Wood County businesses, and Wood County Residents	Give Wood County a competitive advantage.
Financial	Effective Accountable Sound use of public money	On budget No surprises
Internal Processes	Efficient Well defined tools, templates, processes Contract with highly skilled professionals	On time Reliable Predictable results Quick cycle time No waste and error free
Capacity building	Infrastructure Expertise Knowledge Transfer	Long-term Viability Growth
Geographic Diversity	Represent Wood County as a whole	Membership reflects geography
Wood County Economic Development Council (WCEDC)	Work closely with the WCEDC to ensure a collaborative result with economic development projects in Wood County.

What Sets Us Apart

Through the leadership of the Port Authority, the efforts of the ‘Executive Director’, and the Port Authorities ‘Director of Projects’, the Port Authority can be engaged to helping put together unique funding partners to help a city, township, business accomplish a particular task. What sets the Wood County Port Authority apart is how it continues employs the concepts of:

FOCUS on the needs of the community, and the client
DEDICATE the resources of the Port, the State, the County, and the banking industry to achieve the result desired
RESEARCH the possible solution and alternatives to achieving the targeted result
PERSEVERE and work through all of the roadblocks to bringing the clients and the communities’ objectives to a successful conclusion
TEAMWORK is the important final element that provides for fast and efficient achievement of Port Authority goals

Several great examples of how the Port Authority used the concepts of Focus-Dedication-Research-Perserverance and Teamwork (FDRPT) to accomplish a particular task include the following. For more examples review the project profiles under Success Stories

Pilkington/NSG Rossford Railroad Crossing

The City of Rossford has needed to improve the railroad crossing on Route 65 as it enters the city from the east, while Rossford’s NSG Pilkington was making other improvements and could shut down the glass furnace for more than 2 days. Funding was not available until the Wood County Port Authority through its executive director and its Director of Projects got involved. The Port Authority found funds by bringing together the Ohio Rail Commission, Jobs Ohio, and the Ohio Department of Transportation. The key restraint was completing the job in two days. The ‘Director of Projects’ and the Executive Director, got the job completed on time and on budget.

CSX Rail Yard in North Baltimore

The Wood County Port Authority played an important role but not a lead role in the creation of this unique rail facility in North Baltimore. WCEDC (Wood County Economic Development Commission) played the lead role in putting the land and the client, CSX, together. Two other organizations offered to fund for an overpass over the railroad tracks which was to become Liberty High Road. Initial estimates by the County to build an overpass were over $12 million dollars and it would take 3 years to build the overpass. This was going to be a deal killer. So the Wood County Port Authority was asked if they could build an overpass for the amount of the grant money and within a one-year time frame. The Port Authority used FDRPT and put together the Wood County Commissioners, the Ohio Rail Commission and Ohio Department of Transportation who used the Port Authority to bid, accept and build the Overpass. Again the Port Authority got the job done on time and on budget.