ST. LOUIS — The city has asked a judge to issue sanctions against the union that represents ӣƵ firefighters and its attorney for failing to show up at an emergency court hearing Wednesday — a hearing the union sought in its effort to block the city’s new director of personnel before she starts work next week.
The development marks the latest escalation between Local 73 of the International Association of Fire Fighters and Mayor Tishaura O. Jones’ administration over personnel issues, including long-delayed firefighter promotions and the leader of the powerful Personnel Department that controls them.
The union sued the city in February when Jones installed John Moten as interim personnel director after the sudden retirement of longtime director Rick Frank gave the mayor the rare opportunity to pick a new leader of the independent department. The union alleged in its lawsuit that the city’s Civil Service Commission improperly changed its rules to allow Jones to pick a temporary personnel director.
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In its motion Monday for a temporary restraining order, the union then alleged that the city had refused to provide evidence that Sonya Jenkins-Gray, the mayor’s permanent choice for the job, had two years of “public personnel administration” as required by the city charter.
On Wednesday, the city responded with an affidavit from Jenkins-Gray that detailed her work at the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Army from 1987 to 1993, including as director of personnel and finance at Fort Bragg in North Carolina from September 1989 to April 1992 — jobs that “unquestionably” qualify her, the city said.
In a scathing response filed Wednesday, the city counselor’s office called the union’s motion “impertinent” and part of “a pattern of meritless challenges to the qualifications of a qualified and diverse cabinet appointed by Mayor Jones not faced by preceding mayors.”
The firefighters union, which backed Jones’ opponent in last year’s mayoral election, is “apparently intent on challenging the appointment of any personnel director not handpicked by plaintiffs,” the city counselor’s office contends.
City Counselor Sheena Hamilton along with two other city attorneys appeared in court for a hearing on the union’s motion. When the other side didn’t show, they asked the judge to sanction them for the time the office spent responding to the union’s “frivolous motions.”
In addition to dismissing the union’s motions to block Jenkins-Gray from taking the job, ӣƵ Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser ordered them to explain Wednesday why they shouldn’t be sanctioned for failing to appear. He also ordered them to show cause as to why they shouldn’t be sanctioned for filing their motion to block Jenkins-Gray “despite prior assurances” from Hamilton and “written assurance” from the Civil Service Commission that she possessed the proper qualifications.
And, Sengheiser added, the union needs to explain why they caused Jenkins-Gray to “expend time while out of the country to prepare for a hearing ... and time locating a notary in a foreign country to refute plaintiff’s assertions.”
Jenkins-Gray had been on a vacation cruise, part of what the city said in its response was “a well-deserved break before assuming the substantial obligations and duties of the personnel director position.”
The union’s attorney, Emily Perez, last week asked the city counselor’s office for confirmation that Jenkins-Gray had the requisite experience. According to emails filed with the court, Hamilton personally spoke with Perez and told her that Jenkins-Gray met the charter requirements.
That was insufficient, Perez responded Monday, asking for a resume or other documentation. Her Monday motion cited Jenkins-Gray’s LinkedIn profile, “which catalogues her work experience in detail from 1998 to the present” and is “devoid of any mention of public sector personnel administration.”
Hamilton, in an email filed with the court, said that in addition to a response from the commission, she herself had provided assurances to Perez.
“I know you looked to LinkedIn to form the basis of your inquiry,” Hamilton wrote Perez in one of the emails. “So are you asking that Ms. Jenkins-Gray update her LinkedIn profile?”
Perez said Thursday that she would file a response with the court but that the city “waited until the very last minute” to file their response. As soon as she had Jenkins-Gray’s affidavit, she said she notified the city — before the hearing — she was withdrawing her motion for a temporary restraining order.
“They very easily could have provided that information much earlier,” Perez said. “And there wouldn’t have been a motion or a hearing.”
A city spokesman declined to comment. The union’s earlier claims over the rule changes allowing Moten to be hired — and a request for the court to invalidate his actions over the last eight months — are still pending.
