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ST. LOUIS 鈥� Personnel Director Sonya Jenkins-Gray is asking the public for help with her legal bills as she fights Mayor Tishaura O. Jones鈥� effort to fire her.

Jenkins-Gray set up a to cover what she says will be an estimated $150,000 in legal bills from her lawyers at one of the city鈥檚 largest firms, Lewis Rice. Jenkins-Gray, who was paid $182,000 in 2023, set a $90,000 fundraising goal for her GoFundMe account. She has raised $215 as of Friday afternoon.

Despite, the cost, Jenkins-Gray says in the post, she is 鈥渨illing to risk it all for justice.鈥�

鈥淏y contributing to my legal defense fund, you are taking a stand against the misuse of taxpayer money for political attacks,鈥� Jenkins-Gray鈥檚 GoFundMe post says.

The plea follows months of behind-the-scenes legal maneuvering as city attorneys sought to begin the formal process to fire her while Jenkins-Gray sought to delay an unprecedented public disciplinary hearing that began Jan. 7 and is still ongoing.

In order to insulate the position from political interference, the personnel director is the only city department head that isn't hired by the mayor when she takes office. That makes it a powerful position, with broad sway over hiring and firing throughout the 5,000-empoloyee city workforce.

The city鈥檚 charter requires a public hearing at the Civil Service Commission to consider formal charges of malfeasance before a mayor can fire a personnel director. Until hearings on Jenkins-Gray began this month, no mayor has ever used the procedure.

Jones鈥� office contends that Jenkins-Gray should be fired because she put a subordinate in the middle of a potentially volatile situation when she had him use a city car to drive her to Jefferson City on July 3 in order to confront her husband, the Rev. Darryl Gray.

Jenkins-Gray said the mayor鈥檚 office asked her to resign after it learned of the trip in August, but she refused. While she admits she used the vehicle for a personal matter in Jefferson City, she denies she was trying to catch her husband in an affair. When she realized she had violated the vehicle policy, she reimbursed the city $170 for mileage. The reason for the trip, she argues, shouldn鈥檛 matter.

But the mayor is using the violation of the vehicle policy to try and oust her for political reasons, Jenkins-Gray argues. She points to her public opposition of a Jones-backed measure that would have given the mayor more control over the department along with Gray鈥檚 backing of U.S. Rep. Wesley Bell in the August primary over Cori Bush, a Jones ally.

Jenkins-Gray said the city has denied her request to cover legal fees even though the city鈥檚 lawyers have represented her before.

In April, Jenkins-Gray sought legal advice from the City Counselor鈥檚 office after complaints of malfeasance from employees within the personnel department. The City Counselor鈥檚 office, according to the filings, assigned her an attorney.

That attorney defended her in front of the Civil Service Commission and the City Counselor鈥檚 office found that the charges were 鈥渕eritless鈥� because they did not rise to the level of malfeasance. In those complaints, the Civil Service Commission did not hold formal public hearings.

鈥淭he process that they鈥檙e going through now is completely different,鈥� Jenkins-Gray said.

A spokesman for the mayor declined to comment.

The city has hired law firm Stinson to represent it in the case. A contract with the firm approved in September for employment law services was worth up to $50,000 for the year.

Editor's note:聽The personnel director is the only position the mayor cannot fill when she takes office. A previous version of this story implied it was the only position the mayor could not fire at will. The mayor can only fire department heads for cause.聽