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ST. LOUIS — The city’s personnel chief on Wednesday sued Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and other city officials, accusing them of leading an unjust effort to oust her for political reasons — including her husband’s opposition to one of Jones’ political allies.

Sonya Jenkins-Gray, who holds sway over the hiring and firing of more than 4,000 civil servants, asked a judge to put a halt to pending disciplinary charges against her, saying the city broke its own rules when it brought them against her.

The charges, she said, “are solely for improper political purposes and in violation of City Ordinance.�

She said the main complaint against her — that she drove a city vehicle to Jefferson City for personal reasons on July 3 — was resolved months ago, when she admitted the mistake and reimbursed the city $170.30.

And she said the mayor’s office was just trying to use the incident for “petty, self-serving political reasons� — namely, that Jones thinks Jenkins-Gray is trying to sabotage her reelection by keeping jobs unfilled, and because Jones is mad at Jenkins-Gray’s husband.

The Rev. Darryl Gray, a politically influential clergyman, caused a stir earlier this year when he broke with U.S. Rep. Cori Bush and endorsed ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County prosecutor Wesley Bell’s successful challenge to her reelection. Jones stuck with Bush and publicly despaired at her loss.

Jenkins-Gray said the mayor was also frustrated with her for refusing to acquiesce to requests to bend hiring rules for certain positions — requests Jenkins-Gray called an “abuse of mayoral power.�

A spokesperson for Jones declined to comment on the lawsuit.

An attorney representing the city in its effort to remove Jenkins-Gray previously called her allegations of political retaliation “fanciful.�

The allegations mark a turning point in an unfolding drama that until recently played out almost entirely behind the scenes. For months, lawyers for the city and Jenkins-Gray have traded confidential motions at the Civil Service Commission, which oversees the personnel department, arguing back and forth over how to handle the allegations. Removal of a director requires a public hearing under a special process laid out in the city charter that no one has ever used. Jenkins-Gray has tried to delay proceedings, while the city has hired an outside lawyer, of Stinson, to push for the hearing to fire her.

Jenkins-Gray’s job was already a hot seat when the mayor hired her in 2022 to reboot a unit struggling to fill more than 1,000 vacant positions across the city, hobbling key services. It got even hotter earlier this summer, when aldermen greenlit a state audit of the department in response to whistleblower complaints of mismanagement.

Then, in late August, she went on an unexpected leave, citing “medical things� her husband later said were stress-related. Her absence went unexplained for months.

But according to the lawsuit, the same day she told the Post-Dispatch she was going on leave, Jared Boyd, the mayor’s chief of staff, had delivered Jenkins-Gray a letter saying the city was moving to fire her. It was a remarkable decision.

The personnel director has special protections to preserve the integrity of the city’s nonpartisan civil service system. The mayor can’t fire one on a whim, and no personnel director has ever been removed in the 83 years since the position was established.

The move set off a flurry of activity at the Civil Service Commission — Jenkins-Gray’s lawyer demanded any records of Jones’ own use of city cars, for instance — that remained private until the past couple of weeks.

First, at a commission meeting last Thursday, Commissioner Steven Barney let slip that charges were indeed pending against Jenkins-Gray and a hearing was coming up. Then on Wednesday, Jenkins-Gray filed her lawsuit, accusing the mayor’s office of leading an illegal investigation and trying to railroad her at an illegal hearing.

She said the purported investigation of her trip to Jefferson City by the mayor’s office should have, by law, been handled by the city comptroller’s office. She said the city counselor’s office was mired in conflicts of interest that would taint an upcoming hearing. And she said Barney’s comment on Thursday had violated her privacy rights.

And she said the whole case against her was flimsy at best.

Taking the city car to Jefferson City, she said, normally wouldn’t prompt any discipline. Using it to take her job, she said, “clearly depicts an effort of the mayor to remove Director Jenkins-Gray for conduct that would fall woefully short of establishing malfeasance required under the City Charter but instead constitute a pretext by the mayor based on unlawful reasons.�

Jenkins-Gray did not respond to a request for comment. Her lawyer, Ron Norwood of Lewis Rice, declined to comment.