Ord 07-2014 2/18/2014 ORDINANCE NO. 07-2014
Ordinance authorizing the City Manager to execute (1) an Interlocal
Agreement with the Sandy Land Underground Water Conservation
District d/b/a Seeding Operations and Atmospheric Research (SOAR)
for a Program of Applied Cloud Modification in an amount not to
exceed $300,000 per year, and (2) Agreements with Third Parties to
Pay for Part of the City's Expenses of Cloud Seeding and providing
for appropriation of General Fund reserves for the costs of said
Interlocal Agreement with SOAR that are not paid by third parties
WHEREAS, the Sandy Land Underground Water Conservation District, d/b/a
Seeding Operations and Atmospheric Research (SOAR), which holds Weather
Modification License No. 14-4, issued by the Texas Department of Licensing and
Regulation (TDLR), has proposed a Program of Applied Cloud Modification for the City
to provide for enhanced rainfall in the area from which the City obtains its water;
WHEREAS, the City of Wichita Falls has applied for a weather modification
license and weather modification permits from the TDLR, pursuant to 16 TAC §79.1, et.
seq., and SOAR will provide the equipment, supplies, and personnel necessary to
conduct and monitor weather modification activities;
WHEREAS, City staff has been negotiating with third parties to pay for part of the
City's expenses of cloud seeding, and some of the third parties are expected to be
government entities, in which case the aforementioned agreements will be interlocal
agreements, and, with respect to those interlocal agreements, the City finds that the
services performed by each of them are necessary and authorized for activities that are
purposely within their statutory functions and programs, and they have the authority to
contract for the services.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF WICHITA FALLS, TEXAS, THAT:
1. The City Manager is authorized to execute (1) the attached Interlocal
Agreement with the Sandy Land Underground Water Conservation District, d/b/a
Seeding Operations and Atmospheric Research (SOAR), for a Program of Applied
Cloud Modification in an amount not to exceed $300,000 per year, and (2) the attached
Agreements with Third Parties to Pay for Part of the City's Expenses of Cloud
Seeding, with such changes to said agreements as are approved by the City Attorney.
2. An appropriation of $300,000 of General Fund Reserves is hereby approved to
provide for the costs of the aforementioned interlocal agreement with SOAR that are not
paid by third parties.
PASSED AND APPROVED this the 18t" day of February, 2014.
MAYOR
ATTEST:
City Clerk
Interlocal Agreement
Contract Number 2014-WF-4-2 between the City of Wichita
Falls and Sandy Land UWCD dlbla Seeding Operations and
Atmospheric Research (SOAR) for a Program
of Applied Cloud Modification
The City of Wichita Falls,a Texas municipal corporation, hereinafter referred to as"WF",
1300 70 Street, Wichita Falls, Texas 76307, and Sandy land Underground Water
Conservation District d1bla Seeding Operations and Atmospheric Research„ a Texas
conservation district created pursuant to Section 59 of Article XVl of the Texas
Const€tutlon, 1012 Avenue F, Plains, Texas 79355, hereinafter referred to as "SOAR",
hereby contract to extend cloud modification operations to the Wichita Falls`watershed
area in Texas,and agree as follows:
WHEREAS, SOAR holds Weather Modification License No. 14-4, issued by the Texas
Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR), and SOAR has recognized expertise in
the field of weather modification:
WHEREAS,WF has applied for a weather modification license and weather modification
permits from the State of Texas department of Licensing and Regulation, hereinafter
referred to as "TOLR", pursuant to TAC, Chapter 79, the Administrative Rules of the
TDLR,hereinafter referred to as the"Program";and
WHEREAS, SOAR will provide all equipment, supplies, and personnel necessary to
conduct and monitor weather modification activities, including a 10-centimeter radar feed
from the National Weather Service ]*text Generation Radar for improved efficiency and
assessment.
NOW THEREFORE,IT IS AGREED as follows:
1. SOAR shall provide forecasting support and direct seeding activities for the
program during the term of this contract, within the operational area and target
area identified by the attached Map and consistent with TDLR Weather
Modification Permits. The purpose of this weather modification operation is to
increase runoff from rainfall within the target area of the WF program.
2. The terms of this contract shall cover two seasonal operational periods beginning
at 12:01 a.m. CST on March 1, 2014 and ending at 11:59 p.m. DST on June 30,
2014 and beginning at 12:01 a.m, DST on September 1, 2014 and ending at 11:59
p.m. DST on October 31, 2014.
3. SOAR will maintain real time 24 hour-per-day, 7-day-per-week access to NWS
NEXRAD Level II "super resolution" radar data and provide the latest software
designed to track and analyze precipitation areas located in clouds upwind and
over the target area. The Dyess Air Force Base at Abilene, Texas and Frederick,
Oklahoma NEXRAD radars will be the primary radars used for weather
surveillance and directing aircraft seeding operations for the project.
4. All basic weather data will be processed and archived by SOAR. This information
will be used by SOAR to coordinate various phases of the field program.
5. SOAR shall perform its activities with the following materials and methods, and in
accordance with the attached Supporting Data:
(A) a plan of operation that details the type of weather modification activity
proposed,
(S)equipment and personnel involved in the operation,
(C) a description of climate and hazardous weather in the operational area,
including explicit statements,where applicable,that the permittee will,or will
not, and under what conditions, conduct operations in areas for which the
National Weather Service has issued hazardous-weather watches and
warnings,
(D) a description of the weather modification methodology that will be used,
accompanied by documentation (including citations in referenced
meteorological journals) which attests to the technology's scientific
credibility, and
(E) a description of the technique that will be used to evaluate the overall
effect of the proposed operation.
6. SOAR shall release WF from all claims relating to operations performed pursuant
to this contract other than claims for payment for the services described herein.To
the extent coverage is provided by insurance, SOAR shall indemnify and hold WF
harmless and free from all claims of damage to persons or property of any kind or
character whatsoever that may develop as a result of SOAR's activities. During the
entirety of SOAR's activities pursuant to this contract, SOAR shall maintain its
ability to pay damages for liability that might reasonably arise as a result of
SOAR's proposed operation and SOAR shall maintain the comprehensive liability
insurance policy described by the attached Certificate of Insurance that provides
insurance for the proposed period of operation. During the term of operation, WF
shall be named as an additional insured on said insurance policy. SOAR shall be
the sole party liable for the proposed weather modification operation.
7. SOAR agrees to be bound by all laws of the State of Texas and the Federal
Government, and that prior to commencing the direction of seeding operations
under this contract for WF, SOAR agrees to have in force all necessary licenses
and permits and permits from the State of Texas to so operate.
8. WF may terminate this contract, with or without cause, on at least 5 days'written
notice,sent by mail to the SOAR office PO Box 130, plains,Texas 79355,
9. In the event of cancellation by WF all monies already paid to SOAR by the WF
shall be retained by SOAR. Additionally,WF shall owe SOAR for any and all days
of a month SOAR operates, up to the date of cancellation,and the cost of fuel and
flares. The amount owed for a partial month is the monthly rate divided by the
number of days in the month of cancellation. A final report summarizing cloud
seeding operations for that season up to the time of such cancellation will be
furnished by SOAR as soon as practical.WF agrees to pay SOAR for the services
rendered as outlined in this contract, the total sum of not more than
$50,0001month. This sum includes the total fee of$39,800imonth for the aircraft,
personnel and meteorological support and reports for the program. Fuel and flares
will be billed at cost by SOAR and will be included in the monthly invoices.
10. SOAR agrees to submit monthly invoices to WF by the 51h of the month. Terms
shall be NET 10 days from the date of invoice. Any payment due but not received
by the 18'h day of the month due will cause a temporary suspension of services
provided for in this contract until the full payment due is received by SOAR. Further
liability shall NOT accrue during any temporary suspension of services.
11. SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS:
PAYMENT DATE AMOUNT
1 APR]L 2014 $39,800.00+Fuel and Flares
1 MAY 2014 $39,800.00+Fuel and Flares
1 JUNE 2014 $39,800,00+Fuel and Flares
1 JULY 2014 $39,800.00+Fuel and Flares
1 OCTOBER 2014 $39,800.00+Fuel and Flares
1 NOVEMBER 2014 $39,800.00+Fuel and Flares
12. The total amount of this contract is not to exceed $50,000Imonth or$300,000 for
the six(6)month program.
13. Any notice to be given hereunder may be served personally or by depositing the
same in the United States mail, postage prepaid, and addressed to the party being
notified at his address as set forth below, or at such other address as may be
hereafter designated in writing. If served by mail, service shall be conclusively
deemed to have been made upon deposit in the United States Post OfFce_
14. SOAR and the WF understand that productive seeding can only occur at locations
where certain types of cloud systems develop. Therefore, during times when an
abundance of seedable opportunities are available, the project meteorologist shall
give preference to portions of the target area that are expected to provide
additional rainfall to the watershed areas of Lake Arrowhead and Lake Kickapoo.
15. Limitation of Cloud Seeding in Limited Geographic Area: SOAR will temporarily
halt cloud seeding activities in areas where WF halts cloud seeding in writing.
Termination of cloud seeding in a limited area should contain a map illustrating the
area where WF desires to halt cloud seeding activities and a statement of the time
period for which cloud seeding should be halted. SOAR will provide a copy of the
document and map to the Project Meteorologist with a request to discontinue
seeding in the area for the time period specified in the written request.
16. A Daily Program update including a daily forecast and summary of recent seeding
activities will be sent via email to designated participants on each workday and on
weekends and holidays whenever seedable opportunities are forecast. A monthly
operational report will be provided by the 15tn of each month following a month
when seeding occurred, and a final operations report covering the entire yearly
operations will follow at the conclusion of the seeding season.
17. Unless requested otherwise by WF, SOAR shall file and/or publish all information
with state and federal entities that is required to be filed and/or published for the
operations under which SOAR is operating pursuant to this contract. SOAR shall
provide WF with a copy of all information provided to the TDLR and/or other
entities with respect to this operation within 30 days after it is filed with or provided
to said entity. SOAR will further provide WF with a copy of all information required
by 16 TAC H 79.31, 79.32, and 79.33 within 30 days after the preparation of such
information. Said information may be provided electronically to WF. SOAR will
provide information to be provided to WF to WF's director of Public Works at
russell.schreiber@wichitafallstx.gov.
16, This contract will be governed by Texas law. Sole venue for any legal action
related to this contract shall be in Wichita County, Texas, unless SOAR is joined
as a defendant in an action filed against WF by a third party.
19. The sole intended beneficiaries of this contract are WF and SOAR. This contract
shall create no rights in any party other than WF and SOAR.
20. Copies of any reports or documents generated pursuant to this contract shall be
provided to WF. WF shall be considered a co-owner of such documents and
intellectual property therein, and both parties shall have the right to copy and
disseminate such documents without additional cost or charge to any other entity.
21. This is an interlocal agreement pursuant to Texas Government Code Chapter 791.
Both parties warrant that (a) the services performed by each of them are
necessary and authorized for activities that are properly within their statutory
functions and programs; (b)they have the authority to contract for the services; (c)
they have all necessary power and have received all necessary approvals to
execute and deliver this agreement; and (d) the representatives signing this
agreement on their behalf have authority from their respective governing bodies to
sign this agreement.
EXECUTED,this the day of ,2014.
City of Wichita Falls 'Sandy Land UWCD
dlbla Seeding Operations and Atmospheric
�ReZsr ch
Darron Leiker, City Manager t]' a al Mana er
al"'.Pi' A' LANORA GALE MCDONI11L
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{sea[} (seal) _, tJotary PuFlic,state of texas
`yt pr i,a My Commission Exi3ires
September 24,2016
ATTEST: ATT
Tracy Norr,City Clerk Gb cDonnell, Office Admin
FORM APPROVED_
Miles Risley, City Attorney
Attachments:
• Map(depicting Operational Area and Target Area)
■ Project Operations Plan
■ Certificate of Insurance
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Weather Modif inatran Permit and License Application Legend
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Map (depicting Operational Area and Target Area)
PROJECT OPERATIONS PLAN
I. Type of Weather Modification Activity
City of Wichita Falls (WF) is proposing to conduct weather modification operations in an area of
north Texas. This weather modification activity will be a nonrandomized cloud seeding operational
program for the primary purpose of increasing rainfall. Hail suppression will not be an objective of
the program. All potential cases that satisfy seeding criteria will be seeded within the limitations of
personnel and equipment and in accordance with decisions of the project meteorologist and the
project managcr.
Cloud candidates for seeding may be chosen by a trained field meteorologist and pilots. The
meteorologist and pilots will be furnished copies of the Texas license and permit guidelines and will
seed in accordance with those guidelines.
The project will begin at 12:00 a.m.,CDT,March 1,2014 and will end October 31,2014 11.59 p.m.
DST, 2017. Operations may be conducted on a 7-day per week basis, 24-hour per day period.
SOAR expects to operate mainly through the months of March through October each year.
Depending on the availability of personnel and equipment, seeding operations may be performed
during the months of October through April
Cloud treatment with aircraft will be at attitudes immediately below cloud base (base seeding) and
the altitudes where the ambient temperature is at or below freezing (typically about —5 'Q (top
seeding). Cloud penetrations at altitudes up to 25,000 feet may be required, subject to safety
considerations.
Weather forecasts for the cloud seeding operations will be prepared by the project meteorologist
located in the Operations Center. Information from the National Weather Service will be utilized,
it. Equipment and Personnel
a. The Weather Decision Technologies (WDT) Next Generation Weather Radar
(NEXRAD)radar feed ingests radar data from the WSR-98D National Weather Service
(NWS)S-band(10 cm)NEXRAD radars sites in Frederick,Oklahoma and at.Dyess Air
Force Base in Abilene, Texas. These NWS NEXRAD sites cover the WF target area.
NEXRAD 10-centimeter wavelength radars do not attenuate appreciably in heavy rain,
and are operated continuously unless they are down for maintenance. In addition, the
NEXRAD radars have a clutter-removal algorithm that eliminates most of the ground
clutter and false rainfall produced during periods of anomalous propagation.NEXRAD
data is run through a software called Thunderstorm Identification Tracking Analysis &
Nowcasting (TITAN) as a graphic user interface, enabling the radar meteorologist to
identify and track echoes and calculate their properties for real time weather modification
operations and post analysis.
b. The radar meteorologist will have access to radio communication equipment to direct the
seeder and research aircraft in and around clouds. Geostationary Positioning Satellite
(GPS)latitude and longitude data from each aircraft are collected and viewed on TITAN.
This is accomplished using the Airborne Data Acquisition and Telemetry System(DTS).
The basic design of this system consists of a GPS receiver within the aircraft and a radio
modem on-board. Aircraft data such as latitude,longitude,altitude,and ground speed are
transmitted to the SOAR office and received via a UHF antenna and receiver. Data is
then ingested in TITAN and displayed in the active window. The radar meteorologist is
then able to vector the aircraft towards the area of interest within an echoing cloud.
c. Current meteorological surface conditions can be accessed from the onsite SOAR
weather station at the Kickapoo Airport. Data from the West Texas Mesonct is also
available. The Mesonet consists of networks of research grade meteorological
instrumentation that provides weather data on a finer scale then is currently available in
any other portion of the state of Texas,The Mesonet also releases upper air soundings to
collect upper air atmospheric data. The West Texas Mesonet employs a Vaisala
DigiCORA IIl Sounding System to take upper-air observations during interesting weather
events at Reese Center(12 miles west of Lubbock,TX), The Mesonet is maintained by
Texas Tech University.
d. Meteorological surface data, upper air data, satellite images and radar images can be
accessed on a wireless high-speed internet connection. This data will be useful to the
Project Meteorologist/Radar Meteorologist in the conduct of weather modification
operations.
c. An appropriately equipped aircraft will be used in this program.The aircraft is equipped
with Geostationaiy Positioning Satellite (GPS) receiver with latitude, longitude, ground
speed,altitude and seeding mode logging and tracking capability.This data is transmitted
to the radar central operations center in real time using a predetermined frequency and
time interval. Aircraft are also equipped with a base seeding and/or on top seeding
capability.
£ The seeding agents will be either glaciagenic or hygroscopic materials, or both. The
glaciogenic materials will be silver iodide (Agl)or a closely related material, dispersed
from ejectable flares dropped from a flare rack mounted on the underside of the aircraft
fuselage,or from burn-in-place flares mounted in flare racks on the aircraft wings. Burn-
in-place flares containing a hygroscopic material (likely chlorides) may be used to seed
convective clouds when such application is believed by the project meteorologist to
contribute to the coalescence of cloud water droplets, The hygroscopic flares burn over a
period of several minutes as the aircraft flies in the proximity of the cloud base. The
seeding agents are not known to be environmental hazards,
g. The meteorological data and analyses to support the operations are critical to identify
correctly the developing clouds and cloud systems with a high potential for producing
precipitation. Consequently, a satellite weather data system, a well-organized weather
forecast method, a complete weather surveillance radar system, internet access to
National Weather Service products(e.g.,soundings, upper air charts,and forecasts)and
well-trained, dedicated personnel will ensure adequate surveillance of ongoing weather
conditions throughout the project's operational period.
h. The project meteorologist will use all available data to develop weather forecasts,analyze
clouds for seedability criteria, and launch aircraft on seeding missions, as appropriate.
He/she will issue orders to commence seeding, taking into account the pilots
observations of cloud conditions and seed/no seed orders from the SOAR meteorologist,
i. Representatives of each county may monitor rainfall data, evaluation information,
seedability criteria, and overall project operations. He/she may coordinate with the
project meteorologist to improve efficiency and efficacy of seeding operations.
Representatives may also monitor the status of soil moisture and flood potential in target
counties to advise the project meteorologist.
j. Said representatives of each county may monitor in the operational area and will issue
"no seed" orders where additional rainfall would be harmful in flooding or agricultural
operations,such as planting or harvesting.
III. Climate and Hazardous Weather
a. 'fhe climate of the target and operational areas of the proposed weather modification prograrn
is semi-arid,with annual rainfall in the range of 15 to 20 inches.
b. The target and operational areas are subject to occasional tornadoes, high winds, flood-
producing heavy rainfall, and Iarge hail from severe thunderstorms. The meteorologists and
pilots will be familiar with indicators of potentiallimminentloccurring severe weather, to
include interpretation of radar echo patterns(e.g.,hook echoes, hail shafts,overshooting tops,
and line-echo-wave patterns), and interpretation of visual information of thunderstorms (e.g.,
shelf and wall clouds,mammatus clouds,overshooting tops,and rotation of cloud elements).
c. Pilots will not approach or operate in any thunderstorm cell that poses a threat to aircraft. No
seeding operations will be conducted in or near any severe thunderstorm cell or developing cell
with a reasonable potential to become a severe thunderstorm. Severe thunderstorm cells may
be 'identified by the project meteorologist, the pilots, or by National Weather Service in the
Corm of a Severe Thunderstorm or Tornado Warning for a specific storm. Cloud seeding
operations will also be suspended in any county with a Flash Flood Warning issued by the
National Weather Service.
d. Seeding operations are permitted within a county for which the National Weather Service has
issued a severe weather warning,only if and as long as the cloud or clouds to be treated are not
associated with the cloud system whose severe intensity has prompted the National Weather
Service to issue a warning for that county. Pilots will be instructed not to approach any cloud
or cloud system in which any dangerous conditions are known or are believed to exist.
IV. Methodology
a. Pilots will conduct seeding operations only in the operational area. They will be
provided with aerial maps with operational and target areas clearly marked. The
meteorologist will advise the pilots, based on the aircraft indicator (from GPS) on
TITAN, of their proximity to the project boundaries. Clouds moving into the
operational area will be evaluated for seedability potential with the TITAN radar
system and for severe potential with sources noted previously. The pilots will be
informed of these potentials. In some cases,clouds moving into the operational area
will have been in the target area of an adjacent cloud seeding project. Eventually,the
project meteorologists in each project will be in communication about the seeding
history of these thunderstorms,either to continue or to suspend seeding operations.
b. Cold frontal thunderstorm lines, pre-frontal squall lines, and dry line squall lines are
the mesoscale and synoptic scale weather patterns that produce the optimal conditions
for cloud seeding. These normally approach from the west to northwest, although
individual cells form and move from southwest to northeast on the steering winds
aloft. These optimal weather patterns are most numerous from late spring to early
summer(April to mid June),then again from late summer to mid-fall (late August to
early October).
Summer-time convergence zones associated with low surface pressure or cold air aloft
will produce seedable thunderstorms. 'These thunderstorm cells typically are not
organized into lines and could move from any direction, although much slower than
the spring or fall thunderstorms.
Tropical air masses moving from the southeast (e.g., decaying tropical storms) will
produce rainfall, sometimes very heavy localized rainfall. "these are not high priority
seeding opportunities;experience indicates that there is a Iimited response to seeding.
Additionally, flash flood watches and warnings associated with these systems would
limit or preclude seeding activity.
Overrunning situations, primarily in the colder months of the year, will produce
rainfall from thunderstorms overriding a cold air dome. These thunderstorms are
usually embedded in layer clouds,and are not candidates for seeding. Aircraft safety,
accurate placement of seeding agents,and relative non-responsiveness are determining
factors.
Isolated to scattered summertime air mass thunderstorms will be seeded as
appropriate.
c. The project meteorologist will continually advise pilots of severe thunderstorm
activity within or moving into the operational area. Both the meteorologist and the
pilot are responsible to ensure that seeding operations are not conducted in or near
severe thunderstorms,as defined by the National Weather Service.
d. The seeding material application rates will be determined by the latest information
available from the weather modification community.
e. Clouds selected for seeding should have updrafts that would carry substantial
quantities of water vapor and cloud droplets to an altitude where glaciogenic seeding
agents will be effective as nuclei for ice crystal formation and growth.
The formation and growth of ice crystals sets in motion a chain of events that produces
rainfall when the ice crystals grow at the expense of supercooled water droplets,
coalesce with other ice crystals (snow),and fall through the freezing level to produce
large water droplets, which become rainfall. In clouds with a continental character,
the total cloud water is of the order of 1 gm m 3 or greater. The portion of clouds
above the freezing level will freeze rather slowly(glaciate) in the absence of abundant
natural ice crystal nuclei,which gives a large time window of opportunity for seeding.
Seeding may be conducted in either cloud tops or in cloud bases. Cloud top seeding is
conducted within the cloud when the cloud tower(towering cumulus) first reaches an
altitude where the ambient temperature is about -•5 °C. Cloud top seeding is not
conducted in mature thunderstorms due to flight safety reasons. Cloud base seeding is
conducted at or below the cloud base in the updraft areas of towering cumulus or
cumulonimbus clouds. Cloud base seeding may be conducted in the updraft area of
thunderstorms that are currently producing rainfall(in the downdra#t area).
ti
f. The application rate of seeding material,the timing of the rcicasc of the materials,and
the concomitant concentration of the material within the cloud volume, are critical to
the success of the program. The initial cloud seeding tactics for this Project will be
based on the operational experience of other weather modification projects.
V. Evaluation
a. Evaluation of the cloud seeding efforts is crucial to achieving and increasing the
effectiveness of the rainfall. Effectiveness is important to the project sponsors for continued program
support and to the contractors for continued improvement of operations. A thorough statistical and
scientific evaluation will not be possible,due to the lack or resources that would be required. The
archived data such as that generated from the TITIAN software program will be evaluated. The SOAR
program will provide an evaluation of the effectiveness of the seeding. The information obtained from
evaluations will be compared to baseline evaluation information. The seeding criteria and the delivery
of the seeding materials will be refined. Rainfall data will be collected from any available source.
Agreements with Third Parties to Pay for Part of the City's Expenses of Cloud
Seeding
Agreement between City of Wichita Falls and
to Pay for Part of the City's Expenses of Cloud Seeding
The City of Wichita Falls, a Texas municipal corporation ("City") and , a
Texas , ("Participant") of
County(ies) hereby contract regarding weather modification operations, and agree as follows:
WHEREAS, City has applied for a weather modification license and weather modification
permit from the State of Texas' Department of Licensing and Regulation, hereinafter referred to
as "TDLR," pursuant to 16 TAC § 79.1, et. seq., for cloud seeding activities within the
operational area and target area identified in the attached Map depicting Operational Area and
Target Area;
WHEREAS, the City intends to contract for the performance of cloud seeding activities over two
seasonal operational periods (the "Operational Periods") from March 1st to June 30th and from
September 1st to October 31st;
WHEREAS, the City's contract for the performance of cloud seeding activities is expected to be
with the Sandy Land Underground Water Conservation District d/b/a Seeding Operations and
Atmospheric Research (SOAR); and
WHEREAS, Participant has an interest in inducing the City to enter and maintain its cloud
seeding operations and provide an opportunity for increased rainfall in Participant's county(ies)
that are within the Operational Area and Target Area.
NOW, THEREFORE, the parties agree as follows:
1. Participant agrees to pay to City $ per month for each of the six months of the
year that the City performs weather modification operations through a third party during the
Operational Periods. If the City (1) terminates its underlying contract for cloud seeding
operations for any part of the Operational Periods or (2) removes the Participant's county(ies)
from the City's Operational and Target Area, then the City will not demand payment for the part
of said Operational Periods for which the City did not have an active contract to perform cloud
seeding operations, including the Participant's county(ies) as part of the target area.
2. The initial term of this agreement will be for a period of one year from , 2014,
and it shall automatically renew for subsequent annual terms unless earlier terminated.
Notwithstanding, either party may terminate this agreement at any time, with or without cause,
on 30 days written notice to the other party.
3. City and Participant understand that productive cloud seeding can only occur at locations
where certain types of cloud systems develop. The City's inclusion of Participant's county(ies)
in the City's contractually established Operational and Target Area is Participant's sole
consideration, and Participant agrees that such inclusion is beneficial and constitutes valid
consideration.
4. Participant shall provide monthly payments in full at least 10 days prior to the first day of
each month during the Operational Period. Any payment due but not received by said date will
cause a temporary suspension of services provided for in this contract for the following month.
5. Participant and City have reviewed the terms of this agreement. Neither party has superior
bargaining power, and Participant enters this agreement of its own free will.
6. Parties acknowledge that there are no guarantees that the proper climatic condition will
produce the types of cloud systems necessary for City's cloud seeding program. Further, the
Parties acknowledge that even should the necessary cloud systems develop, there are no
guarantees that such systems will develop at locations which would likely provide additional
rainfall to Participant's county(ies) or that the City will be in a position to recognize,prioritize or
seed any cloud systems in Participant's county(ies). As such, City is not representing to
Participant that Participant's county(ies) will receive rainfall or that Participant's county(ies)
will receive additional amounts of rainfall.
7. This contract will be governed by Texas law. Sole venue for any legal action related to this
contract shall be in Wichita County, Texas.
8. Cloud seeding carries the potential for contributing to heavy precipitation. Participant agrees
to release the City and the City's officers, agents, and employees from all claims for damage to
Participant's property resulting from the cloud seeding activities performed by the City and/or
the City's contractors. Participant shall release the City from claims by Participant pursuant to
this clause regardless of the negligence of the City or the City's officers, agents, employees or
cloud seeding contractors in the planning or performance of cloud seeding operations. This
release is not an indemnity for third party claims. Neither party waives any immunity or defense
from suit by third parties pursuant to this contract. Participant is not a partner or joint venturer in
any cloud seeding operation performed by the City. This contract has no intended third party
beneficiaries. This contract does not authorize or consent to any suit by any third party against
Participant or City.
9. If Participant is a government entity, then this is a valid interlocal agreement pursuant to
Texas Government Code Chapter 791. Both parties warrant that (a) the services performed by
each of them are necessary and authorized for activities that are purposely within their statutory
functions and programs; (b) they have the authority to contract for the services; (c) they have all
necessary power and have received all necessary approval to execute and deliver this agreement;
and (d) the representatives signing this agreement on their behalf have authority from their
respective governing bodies to sign this agreement.
Executed this the day of , 2014.
City of Wichita Falls Participant
By: By:
Darron Leiker, City Manager
Name & Title
Attest: Attest:
City Clerk
Name & Title
Approved as to Form:
City Attorney
BRISCOE "ALL CHILdR �
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Map depicting Operational Area and Target Area