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ST. LOUIS — Mayor Tishaura O. Jones fired Personnel Director Sonya Jenkins-Gray Thursday, becoming the first chief executive in the city’s history to take the extraordinary action of ousting the head of the city’s civil service.

Former Personnel Director Rick Frank said Jenkins-Gray called him shortly before noon and told him she had just received a letter firing her. She told him that two city police officers said they were there to escort her out of the Carnahan Courthouse, where the personnel department is housed.

Jenkins-Gray did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The firing came a little more than a week after the St. Louis Civil Service Commission, in a 42-page decision, recommended Jenkins-Gray be fired.

The mayor’s office said little beyond announcing its decision, saying that details on the situation could be found in commission’s decision and from evidence presented during the public hearings. The city on Thursday for the first time to its YouTube page.

A rule change in early 2022 gave the mayor the power to appoint a temporary director to lead the department in the case of a vacancy. The mayor’s office said an announcement of a provisional appointment would be “forthcoming.” It could be months before a permanent director is named, because the Civil Service Commission must interview and compile a list of candidates.

The Civil Service Commission, made up of two members appointed by the mayor, last week ruled that Jenkins-Gray “displayed a gross lack of judgment” and “set a troublesome example for City employees” when she had a subordinate use a city car to drive her to Jefferson City for a personal matter during work hours.

The commission’s recommendation followed a never-before-seen public hearing process that stretched for weeks and featured testimony from top mayoral aides, personnel staff and the Rev. Darryl Gray, Jenkins-Gray’s husband.

While most employee disciplinary hearings are confidential, the city’s charter makes an exception for the personnel director, an attempt by reformers behind the creation of the city civil service system to keep a mayor from firing a personnel director without good cause. It is the only position in the mayor’s cabinet that the city’s chief executive cannot replace when taking office, and as a result past directors have served for decades and across mayoral administrations, all while wielding considerable power within city government over hiring, promotions and discipline. The department is not even housed in City Hall.

That insulation was the intent of backers of the 1941 city charter amendment, who wanted a professional city workforce to replace a patronage system that underpinned machine politics and led to significant city job turnover when a new mayor took power.

The mayor’s decision to fire Jenkins-Gray, while historic, was largely expected. Her office had tried for months to begin the required public hearing process needed prior to removing the director. But it was a stunning reversal from two years ago, when Jones hired Jenkins-Gray to lead the department, a rare opportunity that many mayors never get.

Jenkins-Gray and her attorney, Ron Norwood of Lewis Rice, have argued the mayor’s action is political retaliation for the director’s refusal last summer to back a charter change giving the mayor more control over the department. They also said Jenkins-Gray’s husband, the Rev. Gray, angered the mayor by backing Wesley Bell, then the St. Louis County prosecuting attorney, in the August Democratic primary over U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, a close Jones ally. And they said the mayor wrongly believed that Jenkins-Gray was purposely slowing the hiring process for key positions like trash truck drivers to “sabotage” Jones’ reelection.

But Jared Boyd, the mayor’s chief of staff who led the inquiry and firing process, said the administration had little choice but to pursue the director’s ouster after it learned of the July 3 trip Jenkins-Gray took to Jefferson City. Testimony at the hearings later revealed that Gray was there meeting with his ex-wife. Jenkins-Gray had her driver, Anthony Byrd, take her to a hotel where Gray was, then drive her back to St. Louis without speaking to Gray.

Back in St. Louis, she had Byrd, who serves as chief administrative officer of the personnel department, take her to a casino parking lot where Gray’s car was parked, then her daughter’s house, back home to collect personal items and finally a friend’s house to stay. The excursion lasted late into the night.

As the city’s top human resources official, Jenkins-Gray placed Byrd, her subordinate, in an inappropriate situation, the city argued. In addition, the city presented evidence that on the day of the trip, Jenkins-Gray told her staff to process a promotion for Byrd, resulting in a raise. They also played a recording she had made of Byrd without his knowledge where she offered to lie to protect him.

Jenkins-Gray has said she went to Jefferson City to retrieve personal documents but declined to testify what those papers contained. She also says she reimbursed the city for mileage and argued no other employees have been fired for use of a city vehicle.

Jenkins-Gray and her lawyer have signaled they would likely sue the city over the firing, challenging procedural issues during a process which had no precedent or case law.

The firing has been expensive. The city has already paid at least $50,000 to hire lawyer Reggie Harris of law firm Stinson to handle the firing. Last month, the city’s top fiscal body approved increasing the Stinson contract by $150,000, for a total of up to $200,000 to resolve the legal actions surrounding Jenkins-Gray’s termination.

Mayor Jones faces an uphill battle for another term after coming in a distant second to Alderwoman Cara Spencer in last week’s mayoral primary. But if the mayor can choose a friendly director, it could help the administration maneuver the city’s civil service rules to get allies into positions with civil service protections in case a new administration takes power next month.

Yet the mayor faces another potential hurdle in picking a replacement: Frank, the former director who retired in 2021, is on a “reemployment list” Jenkins-Gray approved for the top job in November, as she was facing hearings to fire her.

That gives Frank a potential claim to at least be considered for the position. Frank, who held the director’s job for 17 years, said he believes the rules don’t allow a provisional appointment if there is an eligible applicant, like himself, on a reemployment list.

The Civil Service Commission plans to meet March 20 to vote on a rule change that would allow it to remove people from reemployment lists two years after their retirement or resignation. Frank retired over three years ago.