A grievance hearing for a fired Ironton police officer is set for Monday, but the ex-officer’s attorney said he may ask for a continuance so he can better prepare for the case.

Warren Morford, attorney for Beth Rist, said he also has questions about how the grievance hearing will be conducted.

“I am not sure how the mayor wants to proceed,” Morford said. “I want to see if he is going to let us subpoena witnesses, I want to see what he is going to let us put into the record.”

Mayor Rich Blankenship fired Rist last month after an internal investigation into allegations that she violated departmental policy in regard to a traffic stop.

According to Ironton Police Chief Jim Carey, Rist pulled a woman over for running a stop sign and then determined the woman had no insurance and had a suspended license. Rist reportedly allowed the driver to call a family member and offered to give the ticket to the family member to keep the driver from going to jail.

The family member’s license was later suspended because of the incident, prompting the two women to call Rist and ask for help. Carey said Rist threatened the family member when she called to ask for help.

He also said Rist did not have to take the first woman to jail for her violations and that there were other ways to handle the situation.

After her firing, Rist filed a grievance against the city. In her grievance, she contends her termination violated the city’s collective bargaining agreement with the Fraternal Order of Police because it fell more than 10 days after the incident for which she was fired.

She also contended the termination was arbitrary and discriminatory because other officers, she said, had committed similar offenses but were not punished as severely.

The grievance also said Rist was not given the chance to confront her accusers and was not allowed representation at her private hearing with the mayor.

Blankenship said he wanted to reserve all comment at this time.