CSRA RDC Organizational History

The CSRA RDC was founded in 1962 as the Central Savannah River Area Planning and Development Commission.  It was one of the nation’s first councils of governments, serving as a forum for its members to work collectively on projects with regional significance or requiring multi-jurisdictional cooperation. 

The agency originally served 16 counties in east central Georgia and primarily provided grant writing and economic development services to its member jurisdictions. Mr. Timothy "Tim" Maund was selected as the agency's first Executive Director. He held that position for 38 years, retiring on January 4, 2000.

During Mr. Maund’s tenure, the CSRA APDC, now the CSRA Regional Development Center (RDC), became a leader not only in regional activities affecting the CSRA, but in statewide and national efforts affecting other councils of governments as well.  The CSRA APDC was involved in the creation of the National Association of Development Organizations in the 1960s (with Mr. Maund being one of NADO’s first presidents), a founding member of the Central Savannah River Area Resource and Conservation Development District, and the primary force behind the creation of the CSRA Unified Development Council, a mutli-county economic development partnership designed to maximize the region’s strengths and opportunities.

In the 1970s, the CSRA APDC was designated as the region's Area Agency on Aging (AAA) by the Georgia Department of Human Resources’ Division of Aging Services. Through this designation, the agency's duties expanded to include implementation and administration of the Older Americans Act funds for the CSRA region.  Today, the CSRA AAA administers state and federal resources designed to improve the lives of the region’s seniors. 

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the CSRA APDC also began to operate various loan fund programs for the benefit of small startup businesses within the region. The RDC created CSRA Lending Companies, which began to make loans under the SBA 504 loan program and with miscellaneous revolving loan funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration. CSRA Lending Companies changed its name in 2005 to CSRA Business Lending and later that year began offering SBA 504 loans statewide.

In 1989, the Georgia General Assembly adopted the Georgia Planning Act of 1989.  The Planning Act renamed all of Georgia’s Area Planning and Development Districts to Regional Development Centers.  Under the Planning Act, Georgia’s Regional Development Centers were established as the state’s regional planning bodies and charged with assisting local governments in local and regional planning.