Mr. Colvin distributed draft FY 2003/2004 Work Plans for DEC’s Division of Fish, Wildlife, and Marine Resources and the Bureau of Marine Resources. He asked the Council to put this on the agenda for the January 2003 Council meeting; today’s discussion will just introduce aspects of the plan. Earlier this year, the State Legislature enacted an increase in state hunting and fishing license fees. The legislation that increased the fees included a legal requirement that DEC annually prepare an estimate of what it will spend to deliver the Department’s fish and wildlife program statewide in the next budget year. This estimate must be presented to the Legislature and to the Department’s Conservation Fund Advisory Board (CFAB) in September to allow the Legislature to understand how the hunting and fishing license fee money was planned to be used by the Department and to allow CFAB time to express to the DEC Commissioner and the Governor any concerns its has about that planned expenditure program. This report, prepared for the first time this year, covers the Department’s entire fish, wildlife, and marine resources program, and it will ultimately also include the programs of the Divisions of Operations and Law Enforcement that support fish, wildlife, and marine resources programs. Next year’s expenditure plan will be discussed in detail with CFAB in December 2002; the basis for that document will be the FY 2003/2004 Work Plan developed for the Division of Fish, Wildlife, and Marine Resources. Mr. Colvin introduced Ms. Karen Chytalo, the Bureau of Marine Resources representative on the Division work team that generated the work plans.

Ms. Chytalo led the Council through Work Plan for the Bureau of Marine Resources, which projects Bureau activities and expenditures during the period 01 April 2003 – 31March 2004. The document was prepared in July 2002 and is based on the number of Bureau staff and their assignments at the time. Ms. Chytalo stated that each staff person is allocated 220 staff days, which are allocated among different programs and reevaluated annually. Staff time and activity reports are used to ascertain what staff have really been doing.

Councilor Davi asked how he might suggest to the Bureau that it undertake a particular task. If he presented an idea to the Council, could the Council recommend it to DEC. Some tasks needed to be planned for and undertaken before there was a crisis or a natural catastrophe. Chairman Wise suggested that this was precisely what the Council’s Subcommittee on Marine Resource Program Financing Needs was attempting to do.

Mr. Colvin made reference to the Department/Division/Bureau strategic and operational plans from which the work mans are generated. The Division of Fish, Wildlife, and Marine Resources is reworking its program objectives. Mr. Colvin will be asking the Council for assistance on these objectives. All objectives are going to be output-oriented. Once the Department’s FY 2003/2004 budget is known, the 03-04 Work Plan will be finalized and work will begin on the FY 04-05 plans. This will not occur until March 2003 at the earliest.