Jim Thorpe Borough Council passed an ordinance creating a municipal fire department Thursday night after the president of the Fairview Hose Company said he felt the action was taken against firefighters.

"We take it personally because we think it is a vendetta against us," said Frank Lauth. "These are good people who volunteer for this community. They protect life and property and don't deserve this."Council, however, said the action was by no means an attack on firefighters or any company."You will still operate the department," Councilman Jay Miller told Lauth and other firefighters in attendance. "Nobody up here has any design of taking over the fire department. The operation will remain in the hands of volunteers."There will be some changes, however, in the oversight of finances.Miller made it clear that no money is missing from anywhere, but said the move would address poor financial behavior."There were issues that I'm being told have been addressed and I'll take your word for it, but I have seven years of audits that say this is what has to happen. When you get an audit and there is a problem, you have to correct it immediately or it comes up again in the next audit."In September 2016, council discussed audit findings from the East Mauch Chunk Firemen's Relief Fund, which included "noncompliance with prior audit recommendations concerning undocumented expenditures, failure to maintain a complete and accurate equipment roster and inadequate minutes of meetings."On Thursday, Lauth said all information had been sent and everything "was straightened out.""There are no underhanded doings here," he said. "If there are any other issues against the firefighters, there have never been any formal charges and there is no documentation."Council President Greg Strubinger said during the discussion of creating a municipal fire department, nobody's character was ever called into question."This is nothing personal," Councilman Kyle Sheckler added. "We want to help the department in any way possible."With a likely merger of the Phoenix Hose Company with the Fairview Hose Company, the borough would have one company on each side of town; Fairview/Phoenix on the east side and Diligent Fire Company 3 on the west side.