EXECUTIVE ORDER  74-17

Department of Game policy provides for the purchase of private lands situated within wildlife-recreation area boundaries as such lands become available in accordance with current state and federal regulations. Said regulations require that an offer be made to the seller of not less than the fair market value of the property as established by an approved appraisal.

Mr. Claude Bekins, a member of the Washington State Game Commission, has offered to the Department the sale of a 40-acre tract of land lying within the established boundaries of the Crab Creek Wildlife-Recreation Area in Grant County. The tract was purchased in April, 1966 for the sum of $5,000. A current appraisal in accordance with RCW 8.26.180 conducted by an independent fee appraiser under contract to the Department of Game has established a fair market value of $6,000 for the tract as of August 30, 1974. The appraisal has been reviewed and approved by a contract review appraiser through the Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation.

Implementation of the foregoing Department policy of acquiring private lands within wildlife-recreation areas and the public interest in state ownership of such lands dictate that the offer by Mr. Bekins be accepted and the land be purchased at the currently appraised fair market value. The transaction, however, is prohibited by the terms of the Executive Conflict of Interest Act, RCW Chapter 42.18 unless an order is issued by the Governor suspending the operation of subsections (1) and (2) within RCW 42.18.160.

Now, therefore, I, Daniel J. Evans, Governor of the State of Washington, by virtue of the authority vested in me, do find that it is in the best public interest that the operation of RCW 42.18.160 (1) and (2) as to Mr. Claude Bekins, member of the Washington State Game Commission, be suspended for the purpose of the transaction whereby the State of Washington will purchase a 40-acre tract of land presently owned by Mr. Bekins situated within the established boundaries of the Crab Creek Wildlife-Recreation Area in Grant County, and the same is hereby ordered.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set
my hand and caused the seal of the State of
Washington to be affixed at Olympia this
4th day of December A.D., Nineteen hundred and seventy-four.

Daniel J. Evans
Governor of Washington

BY THE GOVERNOR:



Secretary of State