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ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis commission voted Tuesday to require police officers accused of misconduct to face the same disciplinary process as other city employees.

The St. Louis Civil Service Commission — an autonomous body established by the city charter to review personnel matters, including disciplinary actions — voted 2-0 Tuesday in support of repealing a measure that gave police officers different rules for discipline. 

Under the repeal, all police disciplinary hearings will now be decided by the commission, a three-member civilian body appointed by the mayor. 

Commission chair Leo Donahue and member Steven Barney voted in favor of the change. The commission's third member, Bettye Battle-Turner, was absent from the meeting Tuesday, but voiced support for the measure in previous meetings. 

The move repeals , which allowed officers facing punishment of less than a 15-day suspension to appeal the matter to a three-person “summary hearing board.�

The summary board is made up of three uniformed officers — one peer in the same rank as the officer accused of misconduct, and typically two higher-ranking officers. One member of the board, under the terms of the most recent collective bargaining agreement, was selected by the police bargaining unit, the St. Louis Police Officers Association. Either the accused officer or the department could then appeal the summary board’s decision to the civil service commission.

St. Louis police Chief John Hayden issued a statement last month in favor of repealing the rule, arguing the the summary board "has allowed for officers to significantly reduce, or even negate, discipline time and time again."

The Civil Service Commission already handles such appeals for all other city employees and for officers facing longer suspension, demotion or firing.

Representatives for two St. Louis police groups — the department's bargaining unit, St. Louis Police Officers' Association, and the Ethical Society of Police, which represents many local Black officers — weighed in on repealing the measure at the meeting Tuesday. 

The St. Louis Police Officers Association argued the repeal violates a state statute that brought the police department from state into local control in 2013, business manager Jeff Roorda told commission members Tuesday. 

City Personnel Director Richard Frank said Tuesday that he's received legal advice that the change would be legal.

Treasurer of the Ethical Society, Lt. Cheryl Orange, said some of the group's officers were satisfied with the current system and were concerned that civil service commission discipline may take longer because of the commission's caseload of all city employees. 

"To say our process is slower is not true," Personnel Director Frank responded.

The Ethical Society of Police released a statement on Wednesday, the day after the vote, in support of the measure. 

"As an organization, ESOP has long supported revising the officer investigation process to include involvement by the city," the statement said. "We believe this will lead to more balanced investigations as we don't think that police should simply police themselves. We are always on the side of more accountability."

Frank has argued the repeal will create a more fair system by holding all city employees to the same standard. 

St. Louis mayor Tishaura Jones posted Tuesday supporting the commission's decision. 

"We were long overdue for this change," the statement said.