Taxpayers on the hook for APS frozen pipes.

Over the winter break, the leadership of the APS allowed a number of water pipes to freeze. The cost of the damage has been estimated to be on the order of, one half million dollars.

The leadership of the APS claimed, at the time,
their insurer would pay for repairing the damage.

On or about, the 10th of December, 2o days before the damaging freeze; APS insurer, Poms and Associates, sent a letter to the leadership of the APS, telling them;

"... we are recommending the following process;
Maintain thermostat settings at no less than 50 degrees.
If possible assign school personnel to conduct walk through inspections during holidays or extend (sic) period when facility may not be in use.

It is the responsibility of all NMPSIA members to help maintain the integrity of the New Mexico Public Schools Insurance Authority.

The leadership of the APS' tacit choice was to allow the pipes to freeze anyway. After a hundred years in business, standards and accountability in the leadership of the APS are not adequate to guarantee simple building maintenance.

Does everyone expect Poms to just roll over?

If you think the leadership of the APS is transparent,
ask them to tell you candidly, forthrightly and honestly,
what happened here.

Fortunately for the leadership of the APS, the Journal doesn't
ask those kinds of questions. They don't dig very deep. Read their editorial, (link when they post one), and you will find they still think Poms is going to pay off, and taxpayer liability is limited to higher premiums.

Notice that when the subject of protecting the pipes last night came up on NM Broadcasters Assoc affiliates; no mention was made of insurance covering the New Years freeze.

The leadership of the APS said they were now ready for a freeze; they now have the wherewithal to protect pipes from freezing temperatures.

So why didn't they have it two weeks ago?

The fact is that they did have the wherewithal to prevent the damage; it wasn't employed.

There are two reasons that a person might not solve the problem they are charged with solving; incompetence and/or corruption. Enabling incompetence is manifest corruption.

Either the person cannot solve the problem, or the person will not solve the problem. There is no other explanation. If there is a third factor in failure; some one could point to it.

The leadership of the APS has failed administratively, because they tolerate incompetence and corruption. The person most responsible for the damage, the person on whose desk the buck should stop, will not even be identified.

I have never said that all APS administrators and board members are corrupt and incompetent. The closest I've come is to point out, there are only two kinds of administrators and board members

1. those who are corrupt and or incompetent, and
2. those who have guilty knowledge of that corruption and incompetence.
   

Again, if anyone would care to point to a third kind of administrator or board member, please do.

Cultures of corruption are manifest in the permission of prohibited behavior. A culture is corrupt when it enables corruption and incompetence by tolerating them.

A impartial fact finding investigation of the administration of the APS will either point to an administration that enables incompetence and corruption; or it will reveals standards of conduct and competence high enough to protect the public interests and inescapable accountability to those standards.

The vigor with which the audit is being opposed by
Marty Esquivel and Winston Brooks, suggests the former;
an administration that enables corruption and incompetence,
and leadership that is covering it up.