Point #1 

Who Do We Publicly List as Employees? 

The following is from the Transparent Idaho website. The state controller's office produces the website and aims to provide transparency to all Idaho citizens.

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Essential facts about the above employee listing:

1. Cloud Seeding employees are missing from this list, which is supposed to provide transparency to Clark County citizens.

2. On line 24 above, there is an employee listed who really should not be an employee of the county. Water Districts are supposed to hire and pay their employees directly. No other county in Idaho lists water district employees as "county" employees. This is a discussion that we will need another time.

Point #2 

Actual Clark County Employees

The county clerk provided the following document via a public record request. It shows the listing of county 1099 contractors and W-2 employees.

 Note: A person who provides labor/service to the county government must be paid on a 1099 or W-2 basis. A 1099 basis is a contract worker for whom the government does not pay payroll taxes (Social Security, Medicare). On a W-2 basis, the county government pays payroll taxes (Social Security, Medicare, Unemployment, Worker's Comp, PERSI retirement, and medical insurance) if the employee meets hours worked requirements.

 The following report first lists 1099-based workers paid by the county government. Following the 1099 report are the W-2 employees.

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Essential facts about the above 1099 and W-2 employee report:

1. Two cloud-seeding employees are listed. One is on page 10 (Conni Owen), and the other is on page 11 (Marty Owen). These are Let It Snow, Inc. (cloud-seeding subcontractor) employees. RED FLAG: How can they be W-2 employees listed on the county clerk's W-2 payroll and then not listed on Transparent Idaho? They have never been listed on Transparent Idaho (as of this writing). The county needs to be more transparent with the citizens of Clark County. This is important to note because W-2 employees (who then get listed on the yearly W-3 report to the Internal Revenue Service) are automatically included on the county liability insurance policy provided via ICRMP. The number of employees and payroll amounts affect the county's yearly premium to ICRMP.

2. Other Let It Snow, Inc. employees should be listed in the above report. Let It Snow, Inc. operates approximately 25 cloud-seeding generators in eastern Idaho. Ranchers, farmers, or other individuals close to the remotely located generators serve as operators to start and stop the generators when necessary. The county clerk has informed me that each remote operator is also added to the county payroll as a W-2 employee to ensure they are covered to some degree by the county's liability insurance policy. RED FLAG: These other employees are not listed above or on Transparent Idaho. They should be.

These facts underscore the citizens' right to transparency. It is crucial for all citizens, including the 285,000+ residents of Clark, Bonneville, Madison, Jefferson, Fremont, Bingham, and Power counties, to be fully informed about the financial details of cloud-seeding. I have not spoken to anyone outside of current or former clerk's office employees who knew that cloud-seeding employees were on the county payroll as W-2 employees to secure liability coverage. I was also first denied public record requests about cloud seeding because I was told funding for cloud seeding comes from private money. However, this needs to be more accurate. About $30,000 in public funding comes from these county governments. All citizens have the right to see cloud-seeding financial details.

Point #3 

ICRMP (Idaho Counties Risk Management Program)

Clark County pays a yearly premium to ICRMP to provide our liability insurance for all county employees. The following is an email exchange with the county clerk about how county employees are covered.

The main points I take from the above email exchange are the following:

1. The county clerk confirms that cloud-seeding employees are included on the yearly W-3 to the IRS, thus automatically making them part of our county liability coverage.

2. RED FLAG: There is no rating specifically for cloud seeding and no extra premium required, which leads me to believe our county needs to be more insured. We are only covered by the standard policy provided to all Idaho counties, and Clark County is the ONLY county in the state entangled in a cloud seeding business. Accidental flooding damage caused by our cloud seeding efforts could easily cause millions of dollars of damage to properties in neighboring counties. I do not believe ICRMP would cover 100% of those losses. Contracts between High Country RC&D and Clark County, as well as Let It Snow, Inc. and Clark County, document only up to $500,000 per incident, and in the aggregate, are the requirements for liability coverage (see the contract documents below - one for Let It Snow, Inc. and one for High Country RC&D). My opinion: ICRMP would only cover up to $500,000, if even that, as it depends on other factors listed above in the email exchange.

3. No analysis has been provided to ICRMP regarding potential claim amounts due to cloud seeding accidents or negligence. This is irresponsible.

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Here are the essential points from this budget. I discussed these points with the commissioners in the budget hearing in September 2023:

1. Fund number 29 (Revenue Sharing—State) and fund number 50 (Payment In Lieu Of Taxes) serve as Clark County's emergency cash reserves. At that time, they totaled $1,002,477.

2. However, on October 1 of each new fiscal year, commissioners stated that a large transfer amount occurs between one of these funds and the General Expense fund to prepare for the new fiscal year budget. The budget hearing noted that this would leave the county with a cash reserve of about $800k.

3. The state's recommendation for counties to maintain three times their monthly operating expenses in emergency cash reserves is not to be taken lightly. Treasurer Lana Schwartz, in the budget hearing, revealed that our monthly expenses hover around $400,000. This means, ideally, Clark County should have $1.2M in emergency cash reserves. However, our current reserve of $800k falls significantly short of this mark. It's clear that we need to align with the state's recommendation and ensure we are properly funded.

4. RED FLAG: Therefore, it is easy to understand why Clark County is at severe risk of bankruptcy. For example, should a cloud seeding lawsuit for $5M be awarded to a set of claimants, ICRMP may cover up to $500,000, and Clark County citizens would be on the hook for the other $4.5M. Our $800k in emergency cash reserves would be used against the $4.5M, leaving us in the hole for $3.7M.  Clark County should be removed as the go-between in cloud seeding operations. Let It Snow, Inc. and High Country RC&D should contract directly with each other and self-secure the necessary liability insurance through other private donations. We need Clark County out of it and to serve as a donor only, just like Bonneville, Madison, Jefferson, Fremont, Bingham, and Power counties.

Point #5 - Summaries

1. Commissioners - Please end this irresponsible entanglement!

2. Let It Snow, Inc. - Please stop using Clark County government as your liability insurance and bookkeeper!

3. Clark County is at risk of bankruptcy. It's only a matter of time and circumstances.

4. This county's small amount of extra water from cloud seeding (about 10%) is not worth that!

5. Find another way! Please!

6. Clark County Registered Voters: Please sign the petition. If you'd like to sign the petition so voters can decide on a ballot, please get in touch with me at 986-999-2338 or complete this form.

7. If you would like to make a private donation to High Country RC&D to help fund the Upper Snake River Valley Cloud-Seeding Project so that it can pay for the private liability insurance, go here. I did.