§ 964-b. Duties of the council. The council shall have the following duties:
1. To meet not less than once every two months until the adoption of the plan and to encourage attendance at such meeting of representatives of local governments and interested parties affected by the deliberations of the council;
2. To send copies of the minutes of each meeting to each town and village within the reserve, the county executive of the county of Nassau, the county executive of the county of Suffolk, the members of the Assembly and Senate representing areas within the reserve, and any other interested party upon request;
3. To hold public hearings pursuant to section nine hundred sixty-six of this article;
4. To designate land and water bodies to be included in the reserve as defined in subdivision four of section nine hundred sixty-two of this article and to adopt and publish a map and written description delineating the boundary of the reserve;
5. To make appointments to the advisory committees authorized pursuant to section nine hundred sixty-five of this article, and to create other advisory committees as necessary;
6. To review and evaluate existing studies, modeling, methodologies, data and recommendations for their application to the plan;
7. To adopt a comprehensive management plan for the Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve which the state and local governments may implement. Estuary segmentation or partitioning of the estuary into spatial units may be necessary at times for summarizing data for geographic areas, for the development of certain scientific models, or for interim management measures. The council shall prioritize problems and opportunities within the estuary based upon use impairments, resource management needs and areas experiencing intense recreational use;
8. To identify funding mechanisms for the preparation and implementation of the plan;
9. To identify specific tasks or studies and the amount of funding necessary to carry out the provisions of this article and report such findings to the governor and the legislature;
10. To prepare interim reports and recommendations;
11. To prepare or cause to be prepared educational materials designed to inform the public about the value of the Estuary, its appropriate uses and methods to protect it;
12. To consider designation of the South Shore Estuary into the Federal National Estuary program pursuant to section three hundred twenty of the Federal Clean Water Act. Development of a nomination application for federal designation of the South Shore Estuary may be concurrent with the development of the comprehensive management plan;
13. To encourage, and where feasible, facilitate implementation of the recommendations of the plan;
14. To encourage individuals, corporations, associations, and public entities to protect and preserve the unique resources of the reserve; and
15. To biannually review the plan and the effectiveness of its implementation, and where necessary, revise the plan and submit such revision to each town and village within the reserve, the governor, the legislature and any other interested party upon request.
