Pevely Police Capt. Tony Moutray, who is running the police department, is suing the city and the Board of Aldermen, seeking pay he lost when he was suspended for three days in January, as well as reimbursement for attorney’s fees. He also is asking for the suspension to be expunged from his employment record.
Moutray filed the civil suit on March 16 in the Jefferson County 23rd Circuit Court.
Not only are the city and the board named as defendants in the case, but also the five board members who voted to suspend Moutray are named individually in the suit, including Rick Arnold, Wendy Arnold, Linda Hahn, Marvin Jefferson and Ed Walters.
The board held a termination hearing on Jan. 22 to consider firing Moutray, and while he didn’t lose his job, the board voted 5-2 to suspend him. There is one vacancy on the board.
Aldermen Don Menkhus and Steve Markus voted against suspending Moutray, and they are only being sued as part of the larger board, not individually.
The amount of pay Moutray lost during the three-day suspension was $660.24 before taxes were taken out, city officials reported.
Moutray’s attorney, Allison Sweeney, said Tuesday that so far his legal fees are under $10,000, but the bill will continue to increase until the case is closed.
Moutray declined to comment about the case and referred questions to Sweeney.
She said Moutray, who has been with the Pevely Police Department for about 18 years, wants to continue working there but feels his suspension was unfair and wants it taken off his employment record.
“We’re not trying to bog down the city financially. But he has to protect himself,” Sweeney said.
During the termination hearing in January, the board members’ major complaint against Moutray seemed to be his use of the term “butt-hurt” following a December 2017 meeting when a budget was approved that excluded the purchase of a used police car he had requested.
Wendy Arnold, who made the formal complaint against Moutray, said the term constituted insubordination.
In his lawsuit against the city and board, Moutray alleges that at least some of the board members regularly and repeatedly interfered with the day-to-day operations of the Police Department and repeatedly contacted Pevely Police officers to gain information about ongoing investigations in violation of the Sunshine Law and police procedures.
In addition, the suit says that at least one board member “made inappropriate contact” with a Pevely resident who was involved in an ongoing police investigation.
The suit further alleges that after Moutray’s suspension, members of “the prevailing group” of aldermen approached a Pevely Police officer to “set up” Moutray.
All seven Pevely board members were contacted about the lawsuit, and they said they could not comment about the litigation. However, some spoke about other circumstances surrounding the suit.
“It’s strange that the mayor’s name (Stephanie Haas) is not mentioned in any of this,” Walters said. “Maybe, it’s because she helped him make his decision. She sued the city and got paid a good amount.”
In 2016, the city of Pevely agreed to pay $85,000 to settle the wrongful termination lawsuit Haas filed over her September 2014 dismissal as city clerk. She was elected mayor in April 2015.
Haas said she gave no advice to Moutray.
“In reference to what Mr. Walters said, Capt. Moutray does not do what I say – he does what the law tells him to do,” she said. “Tony just follows the book and they don’t like it.”
Jeffers said he hopes some information that wasn’t made public during the board’s termination hearing comes out during Moutray’s civil suit.
“I find there are many things in the lawsuit that are incorrect or incomplete,” he said. “I can’t comment on the things I wasn’t involved in. I hope we get an attorney to defend us who will rebut the accusations.”
Markus and Menkhus faulted the board members who tried to fire Moutray and then suspended him.
“I think (Moutray) has been treated poorly,” Menkhus said. “I think it’s personal with the aldermen.”