City Councilman Kip Tyner said Tuesday night that in spite of his December arrest for possession of cocaine and the program he has enrolled in as part of a plea to clear his record, his support has not lessened, he will not resign from city council and he’s looking forward to running for reelection in 2013.

“It was not easy continuing to serve on the council, I can assure you of that,” Tyner said. “It was embarrassing. It was humiliating, knowing I was not in possession of drugs, but unfortunately that was the charge, because of being in the same household where apparently there were drugs. I was a victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“I just chose to move forward the very next day,” Tyner said. “I got out, I went to church, went out to eat, did my TV show on Monday and came [to City Hall] on Tuesday.”

Tyner said the diversion program he is in, C.L.E.A.N., has tested him for drugs in his system, and he has been clean in every instance.

“I’m in a diversion program that’s offered to first time offenders. I was offered the same opportunity that anyone else would have been that has had no previous records at all, so I took the plea,” Tyner said. “It was not a guilty plea. It’s been reported that way, but that’s not correct. Upon completing the project all charges will be dismissed and completely stricken from the record, as if it never happened.”

Tyner enrolled in the program on Dec. 30 and said the program was scheduled to run for a year and a month. He said the program meets every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for several hours.

Tyner called the arrest and subsequent calls for his resignation embarrassing but said that his constituents have not wavered in their support of the councilman, who was first elected in 1997.

“The support of the people has been absolutely remarkable.  I stopped counting after 5000 texts and emails from people who care about me, not counting voicemails or personal visits or phone calls. I’ve teared up quite a bit from people’s love and support and encouragement. It’s something that through this horrible adversity it will make me 10 times stronger than I ever thought I could be.”

“My colleagues have been tremendous,” Tyner said. “This department, the city, they have supported me tremendously.”

Tyner said that apart from completing the program and clearing his record, his goals for his future as a councilman remain the same. “My goals moving forward are rebuilding Alberta and my entire district,” Tyner said. “I lost 60 percent of my council district in that tornado. It was the largest hit that a municipal district took in the entire country.

“To the questions of people asking if I should resign, I say absolutely not,” he said. “I have no reason to resign. I’m going to look at this as a great challenge and opportunity, and be very positive about it. I want to get this behind me and then move on to my full responsibilities not only in my business, but also my duties as a councilman, and I look forward to running for reelection in 2013.”