I’ve come across some self-serving, backsliding, cowardly tosh from senior officers at Bristol City Council in my time but Stephen McNamara’s response to Steve Norman’s recent invitation to take him to court takes the biscuit:
“I do not know anything about this issue”? Er Hello? What’s happened to the basic senior management tasks of delegation and taking responsibility here?
Are you in control of your department Mr McNamara? Or are you just some vastly overpaid wig and photocopied signature for ornamental purposes?
If you don’t know what’s going on in your own department then you’re no fucking use. Resign now!
As a city do we really want some unaccountable upper-middle class snooty git firing out letters willy-nilly threatening court action to the city’s hard-up and vulnerable who then – when invited to get his sorry arse down to a courtroom – immediately denies all responsibility and tries to pin the blame on a “relevant officer” ie. Some mug somewhere down the line McNamara will blame to get himself off the hook.
He is the relevant officer. He signed the letter. Why’s he signing potentially life-destroying legal papers and letters to people about things he knows nothing about?
Welcome to another Bristol City Council senior officer shambles. What’s the point in paying people a small bloody fortune to take responsibility if they won’t?
Not sure I trust anyone in this administration? That mug down the line might have been brown nosing!
“He is the relevant officer. He signed the letter. ”
Possibly not – the letter looked like a computer generated arrears letter, it might have a printed signature. An accounts officer somewhere pressed a button on an outstanding account and off goes the letter.
That doesn’t make McNamara’s response any less of a dropped bollock. The letter from Stephen Norman has “handle this one carefully” signals all over it. Crap reply.
…and the head of legal services can not write a proper letter!
– No comma after ‘Mr Norman’
– ‘Thankyou’ is one word
– No full stop at the end of any sentance
– ‘Regards’ when it should be ‘Sincerely’ (as a named recipient), as well as no capital ‘R’
A further endorsement of the low standards in this authority.
Leave him alone. Mr McNamara is conforming faithfully to the culture set by the Chief Executive ie do not take responsibility for anything. As such he is to be commended.
At the BCC Executive Committee meeting to discuss Castle Park, the Councillors were given severely incorrect advice as to the implications of making Castle Park a Town Green and also on the implications of not making it a Town Green.
When challenged on this both orally and later in writing, the response from McNamara – I knew nothing about this this advice.
Seems to be a bit of as policy.
Err – two typos. sorry. I blame the idiot I got to write this for me.
anon-y-mouse, of course legal services can’t write clearly. Have you read a contract recently?
I’d excuse the use of “regards” though – it seems to have become customary on emails.