The commission shall have power to promote public interest in and understanding of the plan and to that end may publish and distribute copies of the plan or of any report and may employ other means of publicity and education as it may determine. Members of the commission, when duly authorized by the commission, may attend city planning conferences or meetings of city planning institutes or hearings upon pending city planning legislation, and the council, by resolution spread upon its minutes, may authorize and pay the reasonable traveling expenses incident to attendance at authorized meetings. The commission from time to time shall recommend to the appropriate public officials programs for public structures and improvements and for the financing thereof. It shall be part of its duties to consult and advise with public officials and agencies, public utility companies, civic, education, professional and other organizations, and with citizens with relation to the protecting or carrying out of the plan. The commission shall have the right to accept and use gifts for the exercise of its functions. All public officials shall furnish the commission, upon request and within a reasonable time, available information as it may require for its work. The commission, its members, officers, and employees, in the performance of their functions, may enter upon any land and make examinations and surveys and place and maintain necessary monuments and marks thereon. In general, the commission shall have the powers as may be necessary to enable it to fulfill its functions, promote municipal planning, or carry out the purposes of this article.