An area agency designated under section 5116, subsection 1, paragraph B must be an established office of aging which is operating within an area designated pursuant to section 5116, subsection 1, paragraph A, or any public or nonprofit private agency in an area which is able to operate under grants authorized by this Act and which is able to engage in the planning or provision of a broad range of social services within such an area and must provide assurance, found adequate by the state agency, that it will have the ability to develop an area plan and to carry out, directly or through contractual or other arrangements, a program pursuant to the plan within the area. In designating an area agency, the state agency shall give preference to an established office on aging, unless the state agency finds that no such office within the area will have the capacity to carry out the area plan.   [PL 1973, c. 630, §1 (NEW).]