The attorney for the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners has resigned as the city pauses Police Chief Robert Tracy’s salary increase and an outside law firm prepares to investigate whether commissioners violated Missouri’s Sunshine Law.
Chris Graville resigned effective immediately Oct. 25, defending his legal advice while calling for an independent review of the board’s decisions.
On Monday, the Missouri Attorney General’s Office confirmed to First Alert 4 that Kansas City law firm Graves Garrett Greim would handle the investigation.
The developments follow Gov. Mike Kehoe’s Oct. 23 request for an investigation into the board’s handling of Tracy’s contract negotiations and Mayor Cara Spencer’s announcement that the city would halt the increase pending that review.
The board approved a contract extending Tracy’s agreement through October 2030 and setting his base salary at $295,000 — $112,000 above the starting salary in his previous contract. The agreement was approved during an Oct. 17 emergency meeting announced the previous afternoon.
Spencer’s office said the city discovered the higher salary had been applied retroactively to Oct. 11, before the board voted. Tracy’s Oct. 23 paycheck included an extra week at the increased rate, the mayor’s office said.
“I am outraged by how this was done,” Spencer said in a statement.
The city’s Law Department notified the board’s attorney of what it described as legal deficiencies in the approval process. Spencer said the city would not process further payments at the increased rate until the investigation concludes and the board’s actions are determined to have been proper.
In his resignation letter, Graville said he stood by his advice but urged commissioners to seek an investigation examining the process “from the very beginning.”
He wrote that he had worked closely with the attorney general’s office to coordinate legal guidance for the board, citing that relationship in recommending an independent review.
Kehoe, who supported returning the department to state oversight, said the board’s decision to fast-track the contract through closed proceedings raised concerns about transparency.
Board President Chris Saracino previously told The St. Louis American that commissioners acted quickly because another city was recruiting Tracy.
“With another city recruiting him, our Board acted quickly to keep that proven leadership here,” Saracino said.
The St. Louis Police Officers’ Association, which criticized the contract’s cost and spending priorities, supports the investigation while remaining committed to state oversight.
“Our police officers are held to high standards every day, and those entrusted with overseeing the department must be held to those same standards,” union President Martin Garcia said.