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ST. LOUIS — A retired city cop and current civic critic says a plan that could rewrite century-old rules of city government is illegal and must be stopped.

In a lawsuit filed this week, former St. Louis police officer Charlie Lane said the citizen commission tasked with reviewing the city charter and proposing changes to voters usurps power that the state constitution reserves for the Board of Aldermen.

Therefore, Lane says, it is “unconstitutional, invalid and a nullity.�

A city spokesman declined to comment on pending litigation.

But if the lawsuit succeeds, it would throw a wrench into city leaders’ efforts to rework the blueprint for municipal operations for the 21st century.

Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, Aldermanic President Megan Green and many aldermen pushed for voters to approve the creation of the commission in April. Jones appointed its nine voting members last month.

And while commissioners have no specific public mandate for what they should recommend voters in November 2024, they could take on some big issues, like the city’s unusual number of elected officials and the civil service rules leaders say make it hard to hire workers.

Kistner, an attorney for Lane, would not say whether the lawsuit was prompted by concern about any particular change.

But he said he and his client are concerned that the mayor got to choose all the voting members on the commission after taking nominations from aldermen, an arrangement Kistner said concentrates too much power in the chief executive’s hands.

Lane, who retired from the force in 2000, has previously sued the city over retirement pay, retiree health insurance and control over millions of dollars in city parking revenue. He also sued to block the city from paying former Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner’s legal bills when an ex-FBI agent she hired was charged with perjury.