Last February, Mayor Ken Mueller signed a resolution calling for the village to spend $170,000 in TIF funds to help pay for a used platform ladder fire truck.

Instead, the money was taken from the village's Illinois 159/Boul Avenue Special Business District fund and village leaders are not sure why that happened.

Village officials discovered the incorrect fund was used after Jim Rauckman, the former mayor of Swansea, complained that the $170,000 should be returned to the TIF fund because he believes TIF funds may have been used improperly to help pay for the 2002 Smeal/Spartan fire truck that cost $340,000.

Rauckman's attorney, Esther Seitz of Springfield, sent letters to the village on Nov. 17 and Dec. 17 raising concerns about the TIF spending.

On Dec. 21, the Village Board went into a closed session to discuss Rauckman's complaint.

And now Rauckman has filed a lawsuit alleging the Village Board violated the state's Open Meetings Act when the board went into the closed session.

For more information, view www.bnd.com

Firefighters were called too late to save a garage building but kept flames from spreading to a home early Monday morning. No one was hurt in the fire reported a little after 3 a.m. at 512 S. Alder Road in the Four Seasons Park community east of Port Angeles. Flames consumed the garage and storage building before firefighters from Clallam County Fire District Nos.
- PUB DATE: 2/1/2016 11:37:32 AM - SOURCE: Peninsula Daily News

Firefighters were called too late to save a garage building but kept flames from spreading to a home early Monday morning. No one was hurt in the fire reported a little after 3 a.m. at 512 S. Alder Road in the Four Seasons Park community east of Port Angeles. Flames consumed the garage and storage building before firefighters from Clallam County Fire District Nos.
- PUB DATE: 2/1/2016 11:37:32 AM - SOURCE: Peninsula Daily News

Two families were displaced after a fire damaged a Seatac apartment building. Residents of an apartment building in the 3200 block of South 176th Street were awakened Monday morning by the smell of smoke. A resident noticed the smell, a light haze in the room and charring around an electrical outlet and called maintenance, who then called 911 at 6:15 a.
- PUB DATE: 2/1/2016 10:39:33 AM - SOURCE: KIRO-TV CBS 7

Two families were displaced after a fire damaged a Seatac apartment building. Residents of an apartment building in the 3200 block of South 176th Street were awakened Monday morning by the smell of smoke. A resident noticed the smell, a light haze in the room and charring around an electrical outlet and called maintenance, who then called 911 at 6:15 a.
- PUB DATE: 2/1/2016 10:39:33 AM - SOURCE: KIRO-TV CBS 7