Another resignation hits key panel as St. Louis mayor seeks to fire personnel director

ST. LOUIS — A member of the city’s Civil Service Commission has resigned just weeks after Mayor Tishaura O. Jones appointed her, the Post-Dispatch has learned, the second resignation from the three-member panel since November.

Bettye Battle-Turner’s resignation from the commission comes just days before an unprecedented public hearing to consider formal charges against the head of the St. Louis Personnel Department, Sonya Jenkins-Gray. The Monday hearing could lead to the first mayoral firing of a personnel director in the 83-year history of the city’s civil service system.

It’s unclear why Battle-Turner, who also served on the commission from 2020 until 2023, resigned. She did not respond to requests for comment.

Jones had just reappointed Battle-Turner a few weeks ago to fill a seat vacated by former Civil Service Commission Chairman Dean Kpere-Daibo, who resigned a month ago. A spokesman for the mayor’s office declined to comment.

The two resignations came as the commission was in the process of setting a public hearing to consider charges against Jenkins-Gray, a special process that the city charter requires in order for the mayor to remove a sitting personnel director. The mayor’s office alleges she broke the city’s vehicle policy.

Jenkins-Gray last month sued the city and Jones seeking to delay the Monday hearing in front of the Civil Service Commission. A court hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled for Friday morning.

It’s unclear what effect a vacancy on the Civil Service Commission might have on the effort to remove Jenkins-Gray. Her lawyers have argued the commission must have three members to operate. The city’s lawyers have countered that the Civil Service Commission’s rules allow a quorum with two members.

The personnel director oversees hiring, firing and promotions. The city’s civil service system was designed to insulate the director from City Hall politics, making her the only city department head whom the mayor cannot hire or fire at her own discretion. As a result, past directors have wielded considerable behind-the-scenes power and have served across mayoral administrations. Jenkins-Gray is only the fourth to serve for more than a year.

It was Jones herself who hired Jenkins-Gray two years ago after the 2021 retirement of longtime former director Richard Frank gave the mayor a rare opportunity to choose a leader of the department.

But in recent months, the relationship has soured. Speculation began swirling in August when Jenkins-Gray abruptly went on medical leave for months.

Later, it was revealed that Jones’ chief of staff, Jared Boyd, had delivered formal charges against her that month over her use of a city vehicle on July 3 to drive to Jefferson City for personal reasons.

In court filings, Jenkins-Gray says she self-reported the use of the vehicle after she realized it may have violated the city’s vehicle policy and repaid the city $170 for mileage.

The incident, she said in court filings, is being used as leverage by the mayor to remove her for “petty, self-serving political reasons,” including a “false belief” that she is trying to sabotage city operations by delaying hiring for key jobs. Jenkins-Gray also contends the mayor was angry that she spoke out against an administration-backed change that would have given the mayor more sway over the hiring of the personnel director and for resisting requests to bend hiring rules.

Jenkins-Gray says some of the motive may be due to the political activities of her husband — the Rev. Darryl Gray, an influential clergyman. This summer, the Rev. Gray broke with U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-St. Louis, a Jones ally, and endorsed St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell’s successful challenge.

Jenkins-Gray alleged in court filings that Kpere-Daibo, the former civil service chair, had resigned after the mayor’s office pressured him to ignore procedural steps regarding the charges against her.

Kpere-Daibo has not responded to requests for comment. But in a Dec. 12 affidavit the city submitted in its response to Jenkins-Gray’s lawsuit, he said he had planned to resign months before the Jenkins-Gray charges because of the workload at his law firm.

The allegation he resigned in the face of political pressure, he wrote, was untrue.