'An excellent public servant. Thank you."
Those were the words of the government's then local government secretary Robert Jenrick on March 24 last year, he was referring to Liverpool Council's chief executive, Tony Reeves. Earlier that same day when speaking in Parliament, Mr Jenrick had picked out Mr Reeves as one of the only positive points in an otherwise devastating assessment of Liverpool Council.
Few will forget the severity of the government inspection that prompted that moment. Max Caller's report laid bare for all to see failures, poor practices, toxic cultures and wasted millions had led to a major police investigation and plunged the city into chaos. While other leading figures were castigated - Mr Reeves was held up as the man rooting out the problems and turning the sinking ship around. He, along with the government-appointed commissioners, were asked to continue work and pull Liverpool out of the mire.
READ MORE: Fury boils over at dramatic council showdown over multi-million pound energy disaster
A lot has changed since then. For starters, Mr Jenrick is no longer in that role or even a member of the cabinet, having been removed by Boris Johnson in September last year. Mr Reeves remains in his post, but his position is far more difficult than it was 14 months ago.
On Wednesday evening, the Welshman faced his most testing moment since his arrival at the city council as he was pummelled with questions, criticisms and even calls for his resignation over an energy contract crisis that is currently engulfing the organisation he leads. A litany of mistakes and failures of process and communication mean the already cash-strapped local authority could lose £5m in added energy costs, with the wider city possibly facing a total extra hit of £16m.
It was a bruising night for Mr Reeves, made even more difficult as his Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Finance Mel Creighton was not present. It was mentioned in the meeting that she has been signed off work, so the chief executive was fighting on various fronts.
Even his critics would have to admit he fronted things up during a gruelling two and a half hours where the lion's share of questions came his way. But some will have been left frustrated that so many of those answers involved the words 'we will have to wait for the full investigation report.'
That report is being carried out by international accountants Mazars - at a cost of around £80,000 - and Mr Reeves gave assurances at Wednesday's meeting that everything will be made public and 'nothing will be swept under the rug.' Mayor Joanne Anderson has already stated that she is demanding 'full accountability' from the probe.
That report is expected to spell out who knew what and when, what decisions were made and crucially, who is at fault for a disaster that has plunged the city into such a financial mess. It is clear from what we know already that officers failed to inform the political leaders of major changes to the council's electricity contract before a crucial cabinet meeting, which has landed the authority on a hugely inflated deal.
At Wednesday's meeting, Mr Reeves repeated he was first made aware of the mounting problems with the electricity contract on March 17 - two weeks after that cabinet meeting. He was informed by Mike Cunningham, the lead commissioner appointed to the council.
Interestingly, Mr Reeves revealed he was initially assured by officers the problem was not too great, but after closer inspection he became 'fully aware' of the disastrous situation by March 23. Who delivered that faulty advice will be another strand expected to be picked up by the Mazars report.
While the individual errors leading to this situation are likely to have come from officers lower down the chain, the questions facing Mr Reeves on Wednesday night were whether the responsibility ultimately should lie with him. A number of irate councillors in the town hall that night made it clear they think it should.
At one point, Mr Reeves looked visibly unhappy when committee chair Barry Kushner suggested his leadership had been 'passive'. Launching a passionate defence, he said: "There's nothing passive about my leadership, no chief executive can have eyes on every single contract, but I am here and happy to answer all your questions."
Mr Reeves repeatedly asked those firing the questions angrily at him to wait for the results of the independent investigation to see what happens next. There will be plenty of people sweating on the outcome of that report - including the chief executive himself.
