§9-15-38. Sales of timber or minerals from school or swamp and overflowed lands.

The Commissioner of Conservation and Natural Resources may sell or cause to be sold timber from school lands, swamp and overflowed lands, and other lands under the jurisdiction of the State Lands Division, or minerals from school lands or swamp and overflowed lands, when in his or her opinion the timber or minerals is of merchantable quality and quantity. Notice of the sale of the timber or minerals shall be first advertised once a week for two successive weeks in a newspaper published in the county where the timber or minerals are to be sold, and the notice shall also be posted in a public place in the county. The notice shall describe the timber or minerals to be sold and the amount and quality of the timber or minerals to be sold and shall call for bids for the purchase price thereof. The notice shall further contain the date upon which the bids shall be received and the date of the sale. If there are no newspapers published in the county where the sale is to be made, then the notice as described above shall be published in a newspaper of an adjoining county. After the bids are received as provided for under this section, the Commissioner of Conservation and Natural Resources may sell the timber or minerals to the highest bidder; but, if in his or her opinion the highest bid received is not a fair or reasonable price for the timber or minerals, he or she may readvertise the sale or he or she may continue to hold the timber or minerals until a future time when he or she may again advertise the sale; provided, that the Commissioner of Conservation and Natural Resources may sell on a negotiated basis timber, the value of which does not exceed fifty thousand dollars ($50,000), from school lands, swamp and overflowed lands, or other lands under the jurisdiction of the State Lands Division when the timber has been damaged or is in a diseased condition, as determined by the State Lands Division, or when it is necessary to remove the timber for right-of-way, construction, or mining purposes.

(Acts 1939, No. 581, p. 949, §7; Code 1940, T. 8, §239; Acts 1963, No. 528, p. 1140, §1; Act 2006-582, p. 1532, §1.)