The City of Ironton will probably file a response to Beth Rist’s appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court, Mayor Rich Blankenship said Tuesday.

“I think it’s in the best interest of the city to file our information just as the plaintiff did,” Blankenship said. “We’re leaning toward the response but it hasn’t been filed yet.”

Blankenship said the city has until Jan. 7 to file the response, if it so chooses.

Rist, a former police sergeant who was fired by the city and is now a member of city council, is appealing to the high court to get her job back on the force. She was fired in 2008 after she pleaded guilty to falsifying a ticket. She filed a grievance protesting her termination in which an arbitrator determined that she had been terminated without cause.

The arbitrator also ordered that she be reinstated to her position as a police officer.

Following the city’s appeal of the arbitrator’s decision, Rist’s termination was reinstated. She filed a civil rights lawsuit over the summer alleging discrimination and wrongful termination.

However, the Fourth District Court of Appeals court ruled in October that her termination was legal.

Her appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court was filed Dec. 9.

At last week’s regular meeting of the Ironton City Council, a vote was taken but nothing was decided about whether or not the city should respond to the appeal or waive its right to do so. Council needed four votes to make a decision.

Councilmen Mike Lutz, Kevin Waldo, and Chuck O’Leary voted for a response, while Councilmen Bob Cleary and Frank Murphy wanted to file a waiver.

Rist did not vote and Councilman Dave Frazer was absent.

The city solicitors, insurance attorney and Alan Lemons, the attorney who will represent the city in the event the Ohio Supreme Court hears the case, have all advised the city to file the response, the mayor said.

“I think it’s only fair to submit it,” Blankenship said. “That’s the advice we’re getting from the attorneys.”

A waiver would cost the city between $100 and $200, while the response would be $1,000 to $1,500, Blankenship said last week.

So far, the city has spent more than $33,000 in legal fees for the case, city finance director Kristen Martin said. In 2009, the city spent more than $17,000 in fees and, to date in 2010, it has spent more than $16,000.

Blankenship said he does not know how much it would be to defend the city if the high court decides to hear the case.

“The only thing the city has done is to file an appeal of the arbitrator’s decision,” the mayor said last week. “That’s what we’ve done for the city. The other three she filed against the city and we have had to defend ourselves.”

The mayor said the city appealed the union arbitrator’s decision that Rist be put back to work because of Rist’s probation limitation. The arbitrator ruled that she should be reinstated to her position as police sergeant, but because she was on probation, she couldn’t carry a weapon, be around felons, or be out past a curfew, Blankenship said.

“I think the misconception from what I’m understanding is that the city keeps this going and that’s not true at all,” Blankenship said. “We filed one out of four court cases and were just defending ourselves just as we would do in any other case.”

Cincinnati-based attorney Marc Mezibov, who represents Rist, said the appeal is not only in her best interest but also in the best interest of the people of Ohio because the arbitrator determined in a fair and agreed-upon arbitration that she should be reinstated.

The high court could take approximately three months to decide whether or not to hear the case, Bret Crow, a spokesman for the court, said.