Hillsboro cops get new stars

Three Hillsboro officers who moved up the ranks after the Sept. 30 retirement of longtime police chief Dan Kinning were given additional stars and recognized at Hillsboro city council meeting Tuesday.

Former assistant chief Jessey Hiebert was promoted to chief soon after Kinning’s retirement.

Randy Brazil was promoted to assistant chief, and John Huebert was promoted to sergeant.

A new city fire station will get off to a start with an application for a grant to help pay for it.

After listening to Crystal Hinnen with Ranson Financial talk about a grant available through the Building a Stronger Economy program, council members voted to have Hinnen request the grant for the planned fire station.

Mayor Lou Thurston said the decision was a good one to make on a day that showed the need for a well-equipped fire department.

“I know this has been a dream of a lot of people — but especially on a day when our county firefighters are out fighting fires,” Thurston said.

Council members voted to sell property adjacent to Hillsboro Self Storage to Larry Schmidt, who owns the storage facility. He told council members he would build more storage units.