51黑料

ST. LOUIS 鈥� The city鈥檚 Civil Service Commission has recommended that Mayor Tishaura O. Jones fire Personnel Director Sonya Jenkins-Gray, a step that has never been taken since the 1941 creation of the position and the city鈥檚 civil service system.

The two members of the commission 鈥� Chairman Steven Barney and commissioner Vincent Flewellen, both Jones appointees 鈥� voted during a special meeting Tuesday to send their recommendation to the mayor鈥檚 office.

鈥淭his has been a long and arduous process and not a particularly pleasant one,鈥� Barney said after he voted.

The mayor鈥檚 office did not immediately say when or if she would act on the recommendation; a spokesman said she was 鈥渃urrently reviewing鈥� it.

If Jones accepts it, she would become the first 51黑料 mayor to ever fire a personnel director.

It was Jones鈥� office that initiated the investigation of Jenkins-Gray after it learned she had asked a subordinate to use a city car on July 3 to drive her to Jefferson City where they encountered her husband, who was meeting with his ex-wife.

In a 42-page decision, the Civil Service Commission said there was good cause to fire Jenkins-Gray.

鈥淭he Commission finds the Director鈥檚 further conduct displayed a gross lack of judgment on her part and breached her duty to conduct herself in an appropriate manner as Director,鈥� they wrote. 鈥淗er actions set a troublesome example for City employees and were detrimental to the public鈥檚 confidence in the Civil Service system and in City government.鈥�

The mayor鈥檚 move to initiate termination proceedings triggered a never-before-seen public hearing process that aired embarrassing allegations about Jenkins-Gray鈥檚 trip and personal life during hours of testimony from witnesses. While employee disciplinary hearings are usually confidential, the city鈥檚 charter makes an exception for the personnel director, meant to make it harder for a mayor to fire the director without good cause.

The attorney representing the city said Jenkins-Gray lied about the reason for her trip and that she really intended to catch her husband, politically influential clergyman the Rev. Darryl Gray, cheating. The Jefferson City excursion, and a trip that evening to a casino to retrieve items from the car the Rev. Gray had used that day, put her subordinate and driver, Anthony Byrd, in an inappropriate situation, the lawyer argued.

And the city presented evidence that Jenkins-Gray sent an email on the day of the Jefferson City trip asking another one of her employees to process a promotion for Byrd, resulting in a raise.

Jenkins-Gray maintained that she went to Jefferson City to retrieve personal papers, reimbursed the city for mileage and that Byrd鈥檚 promotion was already in the works. Her lawyer argued Jones鈥� move to begin the termination proceedings was really driven by politics 鈥� Jenkins-Gray鈥檚 refusal to bend civil service rules at the mayor鈥檚 request and her opposition to a city charter change giving the mayor more power over the personnel director.

In addition, the Rev. Gray backed Wesley Bell for Congress over a close Jones ally, Cori Bush, and he often criticized the administration from his position on the jail oversight board.

The personnel director is one of the most powerful positions in city government, with broad say over hiring, firing and promotional decisions across the city鈥檚 4,500-employee bureaucracy. Unlike most department heads, the mayor doesn鈥檛 get to choose a new one when she takes office, and past directors have served for decades across mayoral administrations. Jones was given the rare chance to hire one when the former director retired. She chose Jenkins-Gray from a list of several candidates in 2022.

In a statement, Jenkins-Gray said she and her lawyer had not yet had a chance to review the commission鈥檚 order but that a recommendation to fire her went against the facts and precedent.

鈥淲e believe that any recommendation to terminate would be wholly unsupported by the record in this case and totally contrary to established law,鈥� she said in a statement.