1. In the event that a town, village, city or county shall certify in writing, as hereinafter provided, that it does not possess the technical capacity or the procedures effectively to carry out the requirements of this title, such local function shall be transferred to the county or the department, as the case may be. The certification of the town, village or city shall be by certified mail to the chief executive officer of the county, or, in the case of a county, to the commissioner.

2. In the event that the commissioner shall find that a local government does not possess the technical capacity or the implemented procedures effectively to carry out the requirements of this title, and that his failure to act will entail a default, or the potential of a default, in freshwater wetlands regulation, the commissioner may supersede the local government and order, alternatively, either that the local function be transferred to the county, or that the department itself undertake the local function, all to the extent necessary to carry out the purposes of this article. The supersession of the local government, shall be by order of the commissioner sent, by certified mail, to the chief executive officer of the local government involved.

3. In the event of transfer or supersession under subdivision one or two of this section, subsequent proceedings shall be in accordance with the further requirements of this article.