When the revelations about the Chief Exec's lockdown partying emerged over this last weekend, I really hoped it was not what it seemed and, in a brief moment of levity, the lyrics of a song by The Clash sprang to mind, albeit changed for the situation.
“...should She stay or should She go now...”
Kate Josephs has been in post for a scant 12 months and, as I commented in this Now Then Article from August 2020, she was immediately faced with a city in trouble. In the grip of a pandemic, with the prospect of becoming a Council in No Overall Control (NOC) and facing Governance changes to a Committee system as a result of a people powered referendum. Finally the City's finances still at the mercy of HMG decisions and perilous underfunding.
As we now know, both the NOC Council and the Governance changes are now underway and all this sits in the lap of the Chief Executive as the City's most senior public servant. As I commented in the Now Then article;
“Julie Dore, Leader of the Council, describes Kate Josephs as “inspirational, outstanding and unique”. She will need every one of those traits to tackle the challenges that Sheffield faces over the next few years. “
However.
We must ask whether a Chief Executive revealed to be part of the Governments 'Partygate' scandal can retain any trust from the elected members or from the residents of the City?
The biggest hurdle she faced on taking up this role was the matter of trust. Many of the residents of the city had lost trust in the Council, both it's elected members and the staff, particularly over the atrocious handling of the AMEY Streets Ahead contract and the heavy handed response from both Council and Police to the protests in the city.
One of the key roles for this new Chief Exec had to be the regaining of that trust through honesty, openness and transparency. Has she failed in this, as a result of this scandal? Certainly confessing and apologising just before a newspaper story was planning to out you does not look good, but have our Councillors been able to get away with worse in their past?
The Leader of the Council has expressed his disappointment but should he not also be angry. This party happened just a few months after the death of much respected Cllr Pat Midgley from Coronavirus and when many of us were dealing with friends and family suffering from the illness or the effects of grieving loved ones. The vast majority of us obeyed the rules, Kate Josephs did not.
There are questions to be answered and decisions to be made regarding her future and whether she can continue to deliver the leadership needed by the Officers of the Council through a turbulent Transition process. I feel for their undoubted disappointment and anger as well, but we must also ask whether the disruption of removing a Chief Exec at such a time will be more damaging to the city?
Cllr Terry Fox & Kate Josephs are the only ones with the power to make those decisions!
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