By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

A yearlong legal battle to prevent Hillsboro Community Hospital from closing down because of bankruptcy has cost the city of Hillsboro $89,833.

That amount includes an $8,368.40 invoice paid Tuesday to the city’s lawyers, Triplett Woolf Garretson.

City administrator Larry Paine told council members the invoice is the final bill.

The protracted legal battle was touched off in January 2019 when Bank of Hays filed a petition in court seeking to foreclose the mortgage and have the building and its contents sold at a sheriff’s sale.

Later that month, the hospital was put into receivership of Cohesive Healthcare Management and Consulting. Cohesive filed for voluntary bankruptcy in March 2019.

In November, HCH was sold to its onetime owners. A new chief executive officer was hired in late December and began duties last month.