Jefferson County officials said they are looking to move the Port Authority to a more permanent location.

Commissioners will meet with the Jefferson County Airpark board Monday night to discuss moving Jefferson County Port Authority meetings to the terminal building, saving thousands of dollars.

"What the commissioners would like is to allow the Port Authority to house, or be housed at the new terminal building. It's all set up for Internet facilities, and it's really a nice new building," said Dr. Tom Graham, a Jefferson County commissioner.

With a conference room for meetings and an office space for research, officials said the space would serve the purpose. Commissioners said the buildings they looked at in the downtown Steubenville area charged about $1,500 to $2,000 a month for rent.

"So our goal is to pay substantially less than that and then money can be used for economic development in terms of what they want to do in terms of contacting companies, getting them here, in acquisition of land, whatever the case may be," said Graham.

The Federal Aviation Administration could require a small fee, but commissioners said that would be better than paying a full price elsewhere.

"Actually, we hope the Port Authority will bring some of the CIC employees over to the Port Authority because they have a lot of things going on, and they are in the know in regard to economic development," said Graham.

Board members said the Port Authority could help the CIC with their financial duties while the authority works to develop more property.