Acting Charotin Hose Company Fire Chief Shawn McGinley had a lot to prove, and he has taken the first six months of 2014 to do just that. While his leadership capability was called into question by some North Catasauqua Borough Council members earlier this year, he seems to have set aside hard feelings and gotten down to the business of managing the borough's fire department.

It was a tall order.

The ruckus began in January during the council's reorganizational meeting when the governing body did not rubber-stamp the fire company membership's recommendation for their fire company leadership, following the decision by former chief Francis Hadik to step down.

At contentious council meetings, fire department members, including McGinley, had sharp words for the council, and McGinley's nomination as fire chief failed to receive adequate votes. He was instead appointed as acting fire chief. The vote for that appointment effectively administered a slap on the hand to McGinley for what some council members considered disrespectful communication of his feelings, while still allowing him to take over leadership of the department.

As acting chief, he took on the responsibility of rehabbing a wounded fire company membership, many of whom had threatened to quit the fire team when the council refused to support their leadership vote. He also had to focus on better communication with the council, as some council members felt the department had done a poor job of communicating budget issues to them in the past.

It was a busy six months. Beyond mending broken spirits, McGinley faced a demanding schedule of overseeing the final building and delivery of a new fire truck, training numerous volunteer firefighters on the new equipment, all while continuing to answer an unusually high number of emergency calls in the community.

McGinley said the progress has been a joint effort.

"I can't take all the credit for it," he said. "In the fire department, we work as a team, on the fire ground and off the fire ground. What I do take credit for is keeping everything together, keeping responses going."

At the July 22 council meeting, fire and safety committee member William Nothstein presented a written summary of fire department activity since McGinley has taken the helm, drafted by the fire department.

Nothstein reported to the council he had met with McGinley, Chris Grebb and Eric Hirner of the fire department July 21 to review the progress.

Nothstein and Councilman Peter McGinley, also a fire and safety committee member, have met monthly with fire department representatives to track training, fundraising, membership, equipment and training and have reported back to the council.

Nothstein said the purpose of the committee's regular attendance at Charotin meetings, which has not been done in the past, is to ensure that positive and accurate communications between the borough, the council and the fire department are maintained.

"We would like to establish the fact that from this point on, if anything from council or the borough needs to be communicated to the fire department, it be done through the fire and safety community, to keep communications on a more positive basis."

Nothstein has been a councilman for six months.

"One of the things that I have observed since coming on council is the individuals that make up fire department are very dedicated, put in countless hours, put in an immense amount of training … to protect our community," he said. "There's a clear vision there, there's plenty of dedication and support. I would like to commend the members of the fire company for their hard work."

And so, after six months, the council was ready to approve McGinley as the borough's permanent fire chief.

The vote was unanimous.