VALDOSTA — Effective July 1, the South Georgia Regional Development Center became known as the Southern Georgia Regional Commission, said Marty LeFiles, assistant executive director of the SGRC.

The nine-county region served by the South Georgia RDC, headquartered in Valdosta, and the nine-county region served by the Southeast Georgia RDC, headquartered in Waycross, will now be served by a single regional commission, LeFiles said.

LeFiles said that the 2008 General Assembly passed House Bill 1216, which called for the 16 regional development centers in Georgia to be replaced by 12 regional commissions. This meant that eight of the regions served by the RDC’s would have to be merged and served by four RC’s, he said.

As of July 1, both the South Georgia RDC and the Southeast Georgia RDC ceased to exist, and the Southern Georgia Regional Commission began serving the new 18-county region.

The SGRC, by law, assumed all assets, liabilities, contracts, staff, etc. of the dissolved RDC’s. The SGRC will maintain offices in both Valdosta and Waycross. The governing council appointed John L. Leonard as executive director, LeFiles said.

The SGRC is governed by a 59-member council, composed of three representatives from each member county — the county commission chair (or designee), the county seat mayor (or designee), and a private sector representative jointly appointed by the county and city representatives — plus three representatives appointed by the governor, one by the lieutenant governor, and one by the speaker of the House.

The purpose of the regional commission is to provide professional services to its member cities and counties in a number of areas: comprehensive planning, community development, economic development, project administration, information technology, geographic information systems, public administration, and historic preservation.

Through its Certified Development Corporation, LeFiles said the SGRC packages Small Business Administration loan applications for local businesses and industry and administers the largest Revolving Loan Program south of Macon, providing loans in partnership with local institutions to promote business growth and job creation.

The SGRC also oversees the Area Agency on Aging program in the region, serves as the administrative entity for the federal Work Investment Act job training program, and administers the regional Department of Human Resources transportation system. The SGRC is also the designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the Valdosta/Lowndes Metro area.