Chapter 3 - Director Of The Office Of State Lands And Investments
CHAPTER 3 - DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF STATE LANDS ANDINVESTMENTS
36-3-101. Appointment; term; salary; removal.
(a) There shall be a director of the office of state lands andinvestments, who shall be appointed by the governor by and with the consent ofthe state senate. The term of his office shall expire at the end of the term ofoffice of the governor during which he was appointed, unless sooner removed. Heshall receive an annual salary as provided by law, to be paid monthly by thestate treasurer on the warrant of the state auditor. The governor may removethe director as provided in W.S. 9-1-202.
(b) Effective July 1, 1979, appointments and terms under thissection shall be in accordance with W.S. 28-12-101 through 28-12-103.
36-3-102. Duties generally.
(a) The director shall keep the records of the board of landcommissioners, and be the secretary thereof. He shall make out and countersignall patents, contracts or other instruments issued by him to purchasers andothers, and make out and sign all leases. He shall keep a record of all suchleases, patents or other instruments in books or other records. He shall fileand preserve in his office all bonds, contracts, leases, and other instrumentsgiven by lessees, purchasers and others. He shall have the custody of the sealof the board, and shall keep the minutes of the proceedings thereof, and shallperform such other duties concerning the business transactions of the board asit may direct. He shall receive all applications for purchasing, leasing,entering, locating or in any manner acquiring title to, interest in, or anybenefit from or use of any lands belonging to or under the control of the stateof Wyoming, and he shall allow or disallow, subject to the approval of theboard of land commissioners, such applications to purchase, lease, enter orotherwise acquire title to, interest in, benefit from or use of the lands, orthe appurtenances thereof, and in all cases where there have been noconflicting applications, he shall report his decisions to the board for itsapproval at its next ensuing regular or special meeting, but in all cases wherethere have been conflicting applications to lease or otherwise acquireinterests or benefits in the lands, he shall, before reporting his decisions tothe board, give each of the applicants notice of what his decision is withreference to their applications, and if none of the applicants files an appealin writing from the decisions of the director to the board within a period ofthirty (30) days, except in the case of oil and gas leases when the periodshall be not less than ten (10) days nor more than thirty (30) days at thediscretion of the board, after the date of the notice, the director shallreport his decision to the board for approval at its next meeting and in casean appeal in writing is taken from the decision of the director to the board ofland commissioners within the time provided, the director shall give each ofthe applicants at least ten (10) days' notice, except in the case of oil andgas leases when the period shall be five (5) days' notice in writing of thedate on which the appeal will be heard by the board. The director shall keep onfile in his office the original of all documents filed as required by W.S.36-1-102. He shall insure that these documents are properly indexed forreasonable public access, and to show ownership by each state commission,institution, department or board.
(b) Upon application and the annual payment of fifteen dollars($15.00) by any person qualified to lease oil and gas lands of the state ofWyoming, the director shall place the name and address of the person on a mailinglist and mail to the person a complete list of lands open for filing prior tothe date when the lands become subject to filing. The payments shall be placedin the general fund.
(c) The board shall have authority to override any decisionmade by the director. Upon such terms and conditions as shall be establishedby the board, in addition to other powers enumerated in this section, thedirector shall have authority to:
(i) Issue all standard lease and permit renewals which do notconvey any permanent interest in state lands;
(ii) Approve lease assignments, sublease agreements and surfacedamage payments, and concur in water right petitions involving state lands;
(iii) Approve applications to construct improvements withincriteria established by the board pursuant to W.S. 36-5-110 and 36-5-111;
(iv) Approve timber sale auctions within criteria established bythe board pursuant to W.S. 36-1-112;
(v) Approve acreage adjustments, suspension of operations andunit or communitization agreements under W.S. 36-6-101.
36-3-103. Selection and location of lands.
Thedirector shall select and locate all lands which are now or may be hereaftergranted to the state of Wyoming by the United States for any purpose whatever.
36-3-104. Notice of selection.
Beforeany selection of lands granted to the state is made, it shall be the duty ofthe director to publish in at least one (1) newspaper of general circulation ineach county in the state a notice giving the area of the said lands so to beselected, and the time on or about when the director will receive applicationsfor and begin the selection of said lands, and before any lands so selectedshall be leased, sold or otherwise disposed of, a description of such landstogether with the name of the person for whom selected, shall be published atleast once in a newspaper of general circulation in each county wherein saidlands are located, and such lands shall thereafter be sold, leased or otherwisedisposed of in the same manner and under the same restrictions as provided bylaw for the disposition of other state lands.
36-3-105. Annual report.
Onor before the 10th day of December, immediately preceding the meeting of thelegislature, the director shall make a report of the business of his office,the transactions of the board of land commissioners, and the condition of theland affairs of the state, showing by tables the land belonging to the severalfunds of the state, to whom sold, leased or otherwise disposed of, the receiptsfrom all sources, the condition of the conditional grants made to the stateunder the provisions of section 4 of an act of congress entitled "An actmaking appropriations for sundry civil expenses, approved August 18th, A.D.1894", and acts amendatory thereof, including in his said report acomprehensive statement of the development and progress made by corporations orindividuals reclaiming land under the provisions of said acts of congress, andof chapter 15, title 9, div. 1, Wyoming Revised Statutes of 1899 and showing insaid report any and all facts or statistics concerning the lands of the stateof Wyoming that will exhibit the condition of the said state lands.
36-3-106. Arid land fund.
Asprovided in the said acts of congress, all moneys collected by the directorfrom the sale of lands selected under the provisions of such acts of congressshall be deposited by the director with the state treasurer, and shallconstitute a trust fund in the hands of said treasurer to be used only for thereclamation of other arid lands when appropriated by the legislature for thatpurpose in the manner that other appropriations are made.
36-3-107. Oaths; acknowledgments of written instruments; depositions.
Thedirector is hereby authorized to administer oaths and affirmations, to receiveacknowledgments of powers of attorney and other instruments in writing, and totake depositions in matters relating to state, school, or arid land business,within the state of Wyoming.
36-3-108. Official seal.
Thedirector shall provide himself with an official seal with which he shallauthenticate such official acts as are not performed as secretary of the boardof land commissioners, which seal shall be engraved with his official title andthe word "Wyoming."
36-3-109. Disposal of slash on timber lands; forestry performanceaccount.
(a) The state forester shall provide for the disposal of anyslash resulting from the harvest of forest products and may require forestmanagement work through a forest product sales contract or a service contract.The state forester may, when deemed necessary, require a slash deposit orperformance bond to cover the anticipated cost of any slash disposal orrequired management work as a guarantee of compliance with contractspecifications.
(b) When any slash is not disposed of or management work is notcompleted in accordance with the requirements of the forest products salescontract or service contract, the state forester may go upon the premises withsuch personnel, equipment and supplies as may be necessary to burn or otherwisedispose of the slash or complete a required management project. The expenseincurred in disposing of the slash or completing the required managementproject, shall be a charge against the posted performance bond or slashdeposit.
(c) Repealed By Laws 1999, ch. 124, 2.
(d) There is created the revolving forestry performance accountin which any performance bond or slash deposit shall be deposited, and fromwhich any expense incurred in the completion of slash disposal or anothercontract requirement not complying with forest products sale or servicecontract specifications shall be paid. The funds in the account arecontinuously appropriated to the state forester for the purposes of thissection. Upon successful completion of required slash disposal or othercontract requirements, as determined and approved by the state forester, theperformance bond or slash deposit shall be refunded to the purchaser orcontractor. If required slash disposal or other contract requirements arepartially completed, the expense of completing the required work shall becharged against the forestry performance account with the balance of theperformance bond or slash deposit, if any, refunded to the purchaser orcontractor.
36-3-110. Fees.
(a) The board shall determine by rule and regulation, and thedirector shall collect fees for the following administrative services:
(i) For filing each application to lease;
(ii) For filing each application for easement;
(iii) For filing each assignment of lease;
(iv) For filing each application for timber or forest productcontract;
(v) For filing each notice of security interest;
(vi) For filing each change of name;
(vii) For filing each unit or communitization agreement;
(viii) For filing each application for a fossil permit;
(ix) For filing each application for a temporary use permit;
(x) For filing each surface estate sale nomination;
(xi) For each insufficient fund check returned.
(b) The board shall determine the fees to be collected undersubsection (a) of this section in an amount which approximates, but does notexceed, the direct and indirect costs of administering the regulatoryprovisions of this act. The office of state lands and investments shall beentitled to retain that portion of the fees collected which represent the costof county filing and recording. All of the remaining money collected for feesshall be paid to the treasurer of the state monthly and shall be credited tothe general fund.
36-3-111. Appointment of deputy; compensation.
Thedirector may appoint a deputy to perform the duties of his office and to holdsuch appointment at the will of the director. The annual compensation of suchdeputy shall be as determined by the human resources division of the departmentof administration and information, payable monthly, upon vouchers submitted inproper form to the state auditor, and in manner that other accounts against thestate are paid, and shall receive no other compensation for any servicesrendered by him to the state.