0710COMMISHaud
Danny Lewis, executive director of the Georgia Mountains Regional Commission, talks about the agency’s name change.Old agency, new name
Here’s a brief look at the Georgia Mountains Regional Commission:
Location: 1310 W. Ridge Road, Gainesville
History: It was created by area governments in 1962 under provisions of Georgia law.
Purpose: Promote and guide proper development of human, natural, physical, social and economic resources in a region covering 13 counties, including Hall.
Funding: Variety of sources, including federal, state and local money.
More information: www.gmrc.ga.gov or 770-538-2626
The signs and letterhead are changing, but the Georgia Mountains Regional Commission — as it is now known — otherwise will remain the same.
The state changed the name as part of a move to reduce the number of regional development centers, as they were formerly called, to 12 from 16 throughout Georgia.
"Eight of those will be combining into four and the rest of us — the other eight — are not being changed," said Danny Lewis, executive director of the Georgia Mountains agency, which is based at 1310 W. Ridge Road in Gainesville.
The centers serve to guide proper development in a certain number of counties. The mountains agency encompasses 13 Northeast Georgia counties, including Hall.
The change, initiated by legislation that passed in the last state legislative session and that took effect July 1, "was to try to equalize the population base," Lewis said.
Each region now has a population of at least 300,000, with the mountains region "pushing about 600,000," he added.
The population change had been an issue for the mountains region "when the state would divide funding among 16 (development centers) and, at that time, we would have one (center) that had 125,000 people," Lewis said.
"It wasn’t fair for them to get the same kind of funding that we get from the state," he added.
As part of the new structure, the state is allowing regional commissions "to do more external work," Lewis said.
For example, "if a city or county called us to come over and fill in for a city manager who had resigned and they needed someone to run their city until they could hire somebody, we can now contract with them and do that work," he said.
The Georgia Mountains district serves 51 local governments — 38 cities and 13 counties.
"Our boundaries didn’t change," Lewis said.
This isn’t the first name change for the state agencies, at one time known as area planning and development commissions.
"The big one in the state is the Atlanta Regional Commission," Lewis said, "and they’ve always (had that name). I think (the state) was trying to get everybody with the same name."
Nothing else much has changed.
"We’re still about development, planning and mapping," Lewis said.