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ST. LOUIS — As far as first impressions go, new ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Mayor Cara Spencer hit the right notes in her inaugural speech on Tuesday.

Spencer plans to be open and transparent. She’s going to make the city work better. She wants to serve every section of the city.

“We can no longer operate in silos,â€� Spencer said. “I will be a mayor for all of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½.â€�

But one line was old news before she delivered it.

“We know this work will be more challenging as the police department shifts from city control to a state-appointed board,� Spencer said.

Not so fast.

The day before Spencer took office, Megan Green, president of the Board of Alderman, with the support of ex-Mayor Tishaura Jones, sued the state in federal court to block the takeover of the police department. The lawsuit seeks to have the law declared unconstitutional and to stop it from being enforced.

Green hopes to get a temporary injunction and keep the police in Spencer’s control until a court can hear arguments on the state takeover bill, which is supported by Gov. Mike Kehoe. The lawsuit had been in the works since the Missouri Legislature passed the bill sponsored by Rep. Brad Christ, a Republican from south ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County.

The lawsuit had to be filed. From the beginning, the bill was a mess. It’s the sort of big-government-trampling-local-voters bill that no Republican in the GOP-dominated Missouri Legislature would allow to be passed for their jurisdiction, no matter how badly a police or sheriff’s department is performing.

But the Missouri Legislature takes aim at ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ like it’s a sport, getting in the way of local efforts with little regard for voters or the fact the region creates about 40 percent of the state’s economy.

For the the state takeover bill this year, Kehoe played the role of Lucy from the old Peanuts cartoon strip, constantly moving the ball as Charlie Brown went to kick it.

It was a crime bill, until it wasn’t because homicides are down in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½. It’s a business bill, but never mind that job growth in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ is trending up. It’s about citizens having a say, Kehoe finally argued, ignoring the fact they just did that by installing a new mayor.

Green did the new mayor a favor by filing the lawsuit before Spencer took over. The president of the Board of Alderman, a lightning rod herself, can be the face of the battle with the state over police control. Spencer can work on the nitty-gritty issues she campaigned on, like picking up trash, filling potholes and figuring out how to spend the Rams settlement cash.

In fact, Spencer’s initial reaction to the lawsuit suggests she’s not interested in being the face of this fight. “The two claims in the lawsuit are interesting and we are continuing to evaluate both the merit and potential impact of the lawsuit,� she said in an emailed statement.

Time is of the essence, Green told me on Tuesday, the day after the lawsuit was filed and shortly after Spencer took the oath of office.

“The further we get down the path of the state assuming control, the harder it becomes to undo,� Green said.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court because its key component is a First Amendment claim that the state bill stifles the ability of city officials to stand up against the takeover of the police department. The new law includes the power to penalize any city official who “hinders or obstructs� the creation of a new state-appointed Board of Commissioners to oversee the police.

That provision could go so far as to punish Green for daring to file the lawsuit.

“Green could be found to have violated the State Takeover Law and could be subject to monetary penalties and disqualification from office if, in exercising her freedom of expression, she challenged, or even criticized actions of the Board, and was therefore found to have ‘hindered’ or ‘obstructed’ or ‘delayed’ the enforcement� of the takeover law or the new board, says the lawsuit, filed by the city counselor’s office and Jefferson City-based attorney Chuck Hatfield.

The lawsuit also alleges the bill violates the state’s Hancock Amendment, which bans legislators from imposing new costs on cities or counties without providing funding.

And so the pattern repeats itself. Voters say one thing — as they did in 2012, when the city regained control of its police department for the first time since the Civil War — and then the legislature, in its constant use of the city as a punching bag, takes it back.

Now, like nearly all political battles these days, the city and the state head to court. If the state wins, the new mayor will have to fight crime in the city with one arm tied behind her back.