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Harrisburg City Council answered the state’s takeover threat by voting to seek Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy protection Tuesday night, essentially adding the courts and more turmoil to the fight over the capital city’s fate.

The same majority who voted down the state-sponsored Act 47 plan and Mayor Linda Thompson’s followup fiscal-recovery plan voted 4-3 to hire Philadelphia-area lawyer Mark Schwartz to fight the takeover and then 4-3 to file for bankruptcy as soon as possible.

Councilman Brad Koplinski said the recovery plans introduced so far have done nothing for the city and only protect creditors and other stakeholders of the city’s debt. Harrisburg would have to file for bankruptcy in three to five years under the plans anyway, he said