43-1-114. Highway maintenance division - creation.
Statute text
(1) There is hereby created a highway maintenance division in the department of transportation. The executive director shall appoint the director of the division, and either the executive director, the director of the division, or another designee of the executive director shall appoint other necessary staff of the division in accordance with the provisions of section 13 of article XII of the state constitution.
(2) The highway maintenance division and the director of the division are type 2 entities, as defined in section 24-1-105, and exercise their powers and perform their duties and functions under the department and the executive director.
(3) Whenever the chief engineer is authorized to enter into contracts or agreements, the contracts or agreements must be executed in the name of the department of transportation, state of Colorado, by the chief engineer, or his or her designee. Whenever the chief engineer is authorized to acquire or convey real or personal property, title thereto must be acquired or conveyed in the name of the department of transportation, state of Colorado, and all such conveyances must be executed by the chief engineer, or his or her designee. All suits or proceedings brought by or against the chief engineer must be in the name of the department of transportation, state of Colorado.
(4) It is the duty of the director of the highway maintenance division, in the administration of the division, to organize the division so that all division employees so far as possible, are interchangeable in work assignment and may be shifted within the division to meet seasonal and emergency demands.
History
Source: L. 91: Entire part R&RE, p. 1039, 1, effective July 1. L. 2015: Entire section amended, (HB 15-1209), ch. 64, p. 175, 6, effective March 30. L. 2022: (2) amended, (SB 22-162), ch. 469, p. 3431, 219, effective August 10.
Annotations
Cross references: For the short title (the "Debbie Haskins 'Administrative Organization Act of 1968' Modernization Act") in SB 22-162, see section 1 of chapter 469, Session Laws of Colorado 2022.
Annotations
ANNOTATION
Annotations
Law reviews. For comment on Johnson v. McDonald, 97 Colo. 324, 49 P.2d 1017 (1935), appearing below, see 8 Rocky Mt. L. Rev. 152 (1936).
Annotator's note. Since 43-1-114 is similar to 43-1-102 as it existed prior to the 1991 repeal and reenactment of this part 1, relevant cases construing those provisions and cases material to this section decided prior to its earliest source, 120-2-2, CRS 53, have been included in the annotations to this section.
Division cannot go beyond scope of its authorization. The highway division (now the highway operations and maintenance division), as created, has only the powers conferred upon it by law and cannot go beyond the scope of its authorization in making a contract. Johnson v. McDonald, 97 Colo. 324, 49 P.2d 1017 (1935).
No authority to sue. The highway division (now the highway operations and maintenance division) is nothing more than an agency of the state and as to actions against it stands in the state's shoes. Thus, no permission has ever been granted to sue it. Mitchell v. Bd. of Comm'rs, 112 Colo. 582, 152 P.2d 601 (1944).
In the absence of bad faith or fraud, it is the general rule that courts will not disturb decisions or determinations by public authorities charged with the location or alignment of highways or other public projects. Dallasta v. Dept. of Hwys., 153 Colo. 519, 387 P.2d 25 (1963).