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Another small step has been taken in the process to replace the Multnomah County Courthouse.

The Multnomah County Board has allocated a small grant ($5,000 to $7,000) that will fund a 鈥渟creening report鈥� on whether the project should be financed through a public-private partnership with a Canadian company. The company, , has financed infrastructure projects all over Canada.

The report, if accepted by the board in February or March, would be followed by a more in-depth study to create a request for proposal for the project, according to county spokesman Mike Pullen.

鈥淭his screening report is a small step in a long project that will have much bigger steps along the way,鈥� he said.

It is unclear whether the courthouse, which has had a number of ailments spanning back close to five decades, will remain in its current spot on Southwest Fourth Avenue or be moved elsewhere.

A study by an independent consulting group was released last summer that ranked five top locations where a new courthouse could be built. Of those five, an area in the Central Eastside Industrial District ranked the highest. Other locations included other areas downtown.

The rankings came from a points-based matrix system that judged each area on a number of weighted factors 鈥� including land cost, public transportation access and sustainability.