But his termination may also reflect a litany of concerns: Kraiberg didn’t always cooperate with city politicians. He was slow to discipline bar owners, even when police found violations. He wanted to help businesses, and had personal relationships with some owners.

Mayor Francis Slay told the Post-Dispatch he is now considering a new direction for the division. He has ordered his operations director to “look at the whole thing and review.” Officials have discussed moving liquor license enforcement to the police department, for instance.

Slay wouldn’t discuss Kraiberg’s dismissal. “I can tell you this,” he said. “It had nothing to do with any particular issue.”

Kraiberg, in an interview with the Post-Dispatch, argued that he always followed the law and carefully weighed the interests of bar owners and neighbors.

The Washington Avenue steakhouse Prime 1000 operated without a liquor license for about two years, maybe more, Kraiberg said. When he discovered the oversight, he didn’t close it down.

“If I went out and slammed the door on them and said they couldn’t operate, it would have bankrupted them,” Kraiberg said. Workers would have lost jobs. The city would have lost tax dollars.