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ST. LOUIS — Personnel Director Sonya Jenkins-Gray, facing charges that could lead to her firing, wants Mayor Tishaura O. Jones to testify at her Civil Service Commission hearing.

Jones is not the only high-profile witness that Jenkins-Gray’s lawyer wants to examine as he tries to make the case that his client, the first personnel director in city history to face termination by the mayor, is being forced out for political reasons.

Jenkins-Gray’s attorney, Ron Norwood of law firm Lewis Rice, also wants to call Comptroller Darlene Green, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Lambert Airport Director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge and City Counselor Sheena Hamilton as witnesses in hearings next month where Jenkins-Gray’s team will begin presenting their defense.

Having top city officials testify at the public hearing would add yet another wrinkle to a spectacle that has drawn attention both for its lurid allegations — that Jenkins-Gray had a subordinate drive her in a city car to Jefferson City to try and catch her husband, the Rev. Darryl Gray, cheating with his ex-wife —and its lack of precedent in the 80-plus years of the city’s civil service system.

An attorney for the mayor’s office, Reggie Harris of law firm Stinson, argued at a hearing Wednesday that the commission should block Jenkins-Gray from calling the mayor as a witness because “there’s been testimony that’s been clear she was not involved in this case.�

The mayor’s chief of staff, Jared Boyd, testified Wednesday that the mayor had delegated duties relating to the personnel department to him and was not personally involved. Boyd was the official who sent Jenkins-Gray a pre-termination notice in August after the office learned she and a subordinate had used a city car to travel to Jefferson City and encountered Gray there. The mayor’s move to try and fire Jenkins-Gray triggered the unprecedented public hearings — a never-before used process required under the city charter before a mayor can fire the director.

The personnel director is one of the most important and powerful positions in city government, holding sway over hiring, firing and promotions across the 5,000-employee city workforce. It’s also uniquely independent. Unlike other city department leaders, the mayor cannot hire a personnel director except if there is a vacancy in the position, and even then, the Civil Service Commission sends the mayor three applicants to choose from. Jones was given the rare opportunity to fill the spot after the former director, Rick Frank, retired after 17 years. She chose Jenkins-Gray in 2022.

Norwood, Jenkins-Gray’s attorney, argued that Jones was a “critical witness,� central to their argument that there has been “political interference� in the personnel department. He alleged that the mayor wants Jenkins-Gray out because of the director’s opposition to a measure giving the mayor more control over hiring and firing the personnel director and her refusal to bend hiring and promotion rules for the mayor.

“What she thought she hired and what she got didn’t line up,� Norwood told the commission Wednesday. “What she thought she hired was a sorority sister who was going to bend to her will, not a strong-minded person who has fought vigilantly to protect the merit-based system, to protect civil servants. When she realized what she had, this is the result. This is political interference.�

Both Jones and Jenkins-Gray are members of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority.

The commission at first granted the city’s motion to block the subpoena compelling the mayor to testify. But they later asked each side to submit written briefs. They expect to issue a final ruling Tuesday on whether Norwood can call the mayor and the other high-profile witnesses.