Title 18 — Title 18 — Counties

Counties named, boundaries. (a) Albany county is that portion of the state of Wyoming within the following boundaries: commencing at a point on the south boundary of Wyoming, where a line projected south from the north one-quarter corner of section six (6), township twelve (12) n…

Range line explanation. The range lines between ranges eighty-nine (89) and ninety (90), west of the sixth principal meridian referred to in W.S. 18-1-101(d), (g), (o) and (u) relate to the public surveys and embrace such offsets and correction lines east or west as such surveys …

(a) follows: County seats enumerated. The county seats in the state of Wyoming are as (i) Albany county, at Laramie; (ii) Big Horn county, at Basin; (iii) Campbell county, at Gillette; (iv) Carbon county, at Rawlins; (v) Converse county, at Douglas; (vi) Crook county, at Sundance…

Organization of new counties. New counties may be organized as provided by W.S. 18-1-302 through 18-1-320.

Petition for organization. Whenever at least three hundred (300) qualified electors who are property owners desire to organize a new county for the purpose of establishing a county government, they may petition the governor to appoint three (3) electors residing within the bounda…

Assessed valuation and population requirements of proposed and residual counties. (a) No new county shall be organized unless it: (i) Contains a population of at least three thousand (3,000) persons; and (ii) Contains taxable property of at least seven million dollars ($7,000,000…

Appointment of commissioners. After the governor has received the petition specified in W.S. 18-1-302 and is satisfied the requirements provided for in W.S. 18-1-303 have been met he shall appoint the persons named in the petition as commissioners to organize the county and shall…

Meeting of commissioners; oath. The commissioners shall as soon as practicable after receiving notice of their appointment meet at a suitable place within the proposed new county and each commissioner shall take and subscribe before any officer authorized to administer oaths an o…

Commissioners to appoint clerk; oath of clerk; calling election. (a) The appointed commissioners shall: (i) Appoint a clerk who shall take an oath that he will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of his office as prescribed by law and shall also take the oath required…

Expenses of special election borne by new county; salary of clerk and commissioners. The expenses for the special election provided by W.S. 18-1-306(a)(iii) shall be borne by the proposed new county and the county commissioners of the county or counties from which the new county …

Election of officers. If a majority of the qualified electors residing in the proposed new county vote for the organization, the new county is organized. At the next general election, or if the special election is held in conjunction with a general election, the qualified elector…

Duties of commissioners and clerk. The appointed commissioners and clerk shall perform the duties incident to such election as are imposed by law upon county commissioners and county clerks in organized counties except that the returns shall be canvassed and the result declared b…

When officers to qualify; when county organized. On the first Monday of January following the election or as soon thereafter as possible, the county and precinct officers elected in the new county shall qualify and enter upon their respective duties. When at least two (2) county …

Approval of bonds of commissioners. The commissioners appointed by the governor shall approve the bonds of the first county commissioners elected.

county. Payment of expenses in organization of new Expenses incurred in the organization of the new county and expenses incurred on behalf of the new county before the elected county commissioners assume office shall be audited and paid by the board of commissioners of the new co…

Assessment of property in new counties. If a new county is organized after the first Monday in January and before the following fourth Monday in May, the deputy county assessors appointed in the original county or counties for districts included in the new county shall be ex offi…

Taxes for new counties. If a new county is organized after the fourth Monday in May and before the following first Monday in January the taxes levied and collected from property within the new county for that year shall be paid by the county treasurer of the original county to th…

county. Indebtedness to be apportioned upon division of Any newly organized county is liable for the payment of an equitable proportion of the indebtedness existing at the time of organization of any counties from which the newly organized county is formed.

apportionment. Method of ascertaining indebtedness; rule of (a) When any new county is organized the county commissioners of the counties from which the new county is formed shall: (i) Determine the amount of county indebtedness existing at the time of the division; (ii) Determin…

court. Commissioners to report indebtedness to district (a) The county commissioners shall immediately report to the district court within which the new county is located: (i) The amount, type, interest rate and date payable of the indebtedness of each county from which the new c…

Notice of hearing on report. (a) The court to which the report is made shall immediately notify the chairman of the board of county commissioners of the new county of the time and place when the report will be heard and considered by the court. (b) All counties interested in the …

Apportionment by court; order for payment by new county; lien upon property of new county. The court to which the report is made shall determine the proportion of the existing indebtedness which the new county shall bear under the provisions of W.S. 18-1-316 after deducting the n…

levy. New county to issue warrants in payment; tax (a) Upon receiving the order of the court pursuant to W.S. 18-1-319 the board of county commissioners of the new county shall issue and deliver warrants to the commissioners of the original county or counties. (b) Each year the b…

Commissioners to order surveyor of their respective counties to make survey. Whenever a dispute arises between two (2) adjoining counties as to the location of the boundary line between them each board of county commissioners shall order their county surveyor to survey the disput…

Duty of surveyors in making survey; joint report; findings conclusive if in agreement. (a) The county surveyors shall: (i) Mark the boundary line as located by them by placing or erecting at the end of each mile an easily discernible and durable monument upon which will be design…

they disagree. Reports of county surveyors to be separate when If the county surveyors do not agree in the location of the boundary line after making the survey provided by W.S. 18-1-402 they shall each make separate reports on the portion of the line upon which they do not agree…

Application to court for settlement when surveyors disagree; filing and notice of filing; court jurisdiction. (a) After the reports provided by W.S. 18-1-403 have been filed the county commissioners of either county may apply to the district court within their county for a hearin…

Court to appoint surveyor; filing of surveyor's report; action upon report; appeal. (a) Upon hearing the matter as provided by W.S. 18-1-404 and if the court is satisfied that all proceedings have been made pursuant to the provisions of W.S. 18-1-401 through 18-1-404 the court sh…

Application to court upon refusal to survey; action taken by court. (a) If a county involved in a boundary dispute fails to act as provided by W.S. 18-1-401 or if the boards of county commissioners cannot agree on a time for making a survey, the commissioners of the county wantin…

Expenses and costs to be paid jointly. The expenses of the costs of the surveys and court proceedings provided by W.S. 18-1-401 through 18-1-406 shall be paid equally by the counties involved in the dispute.

Participation by counties; assessments; withdrawal from participation; forfeiture of assessments for failure to pay assessments. (a) Counties desiring to participate in the emergency fire suppression account shall enter into a written contract with the state forester and shall pa…

General powers. (a) Each organized county in the state is a body corporate and politic. The powers of the county shall be exercised by a board of county commissioners which may: (i) Sue and be sued; (ii) Purchase property for the use of the county and acquire real property at tax…

Property. Any property conveyed to a county, is the property of the county.

Buildings generally; infrastructure for court information technology. (a) Each county shall provide and maintain a suitable courthouse, jail and other necessary county buildings. (b) Each county shall provide and maintain infrastructure to ensure the proper function of court info…

Joint city and county buildings. (a) Any county and its county seat, acting through the board of county commissioners and the city or town council respectively may agree for the joint purchase or construction and use of: (i) A building to be used as a county courthouse and city h…

County, city or local housing authority; authority to establish senior citizen center; receiving state and federal monies; contracting for services. A board of county commissioners, cities or local housing authorities designated by said counties or cities may establish and mainta…

Senior citizen advisory commission. A board of county commissioners, the mayor and council or the board of commissioners of a local housing authority may appoint an advisory commission for senior citizens. The composition of the advisory commission, the appointment and terms of i…

Cooperation with other agencies for funding and operation of senior citizen centers. The county, city or local housing authority may cooperate with other agencies as provided in W.S. 16-1-101, for the operation and funding of senior citizen centers.

Joint establishment, operation, contracts and agreements of facilities by local governments; sharing of costs; issuance of bonds; limitation on expenditures. (a) Each county, municipality, school, hospital or other special district, or any two (2) or more of them may enter into c…

Name in which county shall sue or be sued. In all suits or proceedings the county shall sue or be sued as the "board of county commissioners of the county of . . . . . . . . . . ," but this shall not prevent county officers when authorized by law from suing in their name of offic…

Commissioners to receive service of process and employ attorney in behalf of counties. In all legal proceedings against the county process shall be served on the board of county commissioners or any member thereof and they may in the absence of the county attorney employ an attor…

Judgment against county to be paid by tax levy; when execution to issue. Except as provided in the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act, when a judgment is rendered against the board of county commissioners or any county officer the judgment shall be paid by a tax levied for that purp…

Contracts for human services. A county may contract for treatment and preventive services for the mentally ill, substance abuser and developmentally disabled as provided in W.S. 35-1-611 through 35-1-627.

Prohibition of towing by a county. (a) As used in this section, "towing service" means the transportation or recovery of privately owned vehicles or the disposal of abandoned, privately owned vehicles by use of a motor vehicle altered, designed or equipped to tow or render assist…

Prohibitions; amateur radio antenna regulation. No county shall enact or enforce an ordinance or regulation that fails to conform to the limited preemption entitled "Amateur Radio Preemption, 101 FCC 2d 952 (1985)" issued by the federal communications commission. An ordinance or …

Nuisance abatement; procedures. (a) A board of county commissioners shall, by resolution, establish standards for determining when a site may be declared a nuisance under W.S. 18-2-101(a)(viii). (b) A board of county commissioners may issue an order declaring a property to be a n…

County prohibitions on utility connections. No county shall enact or implement any resolution or policy that prohibits, or has the effect of prohibiting, the connection or reconnection of an electric, natural gas, propane or other energy utility service provided by a public utili…

Time of qualifying. All county officers elected at a general election shall qualify and assume their offices on the first Monday in January next following their election.

County officers required to execute bonds; amount; sureties; penalty. (a) All county officers, except county attorneys, before assuming the duties of their office and within twenty (20) days after the commencement of the term for which they were elected or appointed, shall take, …

Offices and records to be kept within county; exceptions; records open to public inspection; removal for purposes of copying; penalty. (a) Each county officer except the county attorney, the county coroner and the county sheriff if the county jail is not located in the county sea…