Derry's newly-elected DUP mayor made what he called the toughest decision of his political career when he decided to remain in the post despite the election of a Sinn Fein deputy mayor.
"I have a conscience, I am an ex-policeman, and it cannot be easy for an ex-policeman to work with a Sinn Fein deputy mayor," said Alderman Joe Miller.
He confirmed that he had strongly considered resigning after the nationalist-controlled City Council elected Ms Lynn Fleming as Derry's first Sinn Fein deputy mayor.
"For the past week I considered resigning in the event of a person related to the IRA being elected deputy.
"The three options I had were to resign and hand over the chain of office. That would have resulted in a Sinn Fein mayor or a renegade unionist mayor.
"The second option was to pretend that Sinn Fein was just an ordinary political party which, obviously, they are not.
"The third option which I have gone for is the most difficult. It will not be easy having her as deputy. One thing I will say is that she will not represent me at any function which I cannot attend.
"But I had to think of myself, of my family and of the people who voted for me. I consulted with many people before deciding. What I heard from them persuaded me not to resign, and I've decided to go for the hardest option.
"I will not be treating Lynn Fleming any different to how I treated her before she became deputy mayor. I have no contact with her and I want no contact with her. I will do my own job.
"I have been dealt a hand of cards and I must play them to the best of my ability, and that's what I intend to do. Sinn Fein are linked to a terrorist organisation, and that makes them different.
"I believe in democracy. Democracy happened at the annual meeting. I didn't like the majority voting for a Sinn Fein deputy mayor, but I have now to deal with that.
"I hope that the nationalist community appreciates the difficulty I have been placed in."
Meanwhile Alderman Andrew Davidson, who resigned from the Ulster Unionist Party before backing Ms Fleming's nomination, has announced that he is to contest this month's Assembly elections in the Foyle constituency as an independent.
The Dublin-born lawyer lost out in the Ulster Unionist nomination to a former party colleague, Mr Jack Allen.
Earlier this year Alderman Davidson fled his home at Eglinton, on the outskirts of Derry, following a death threat from a republican splinter group.
A former member of the Irish Labour Party, he resigned his party membership in protest at the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement.
Ironically, Derry's new mayor resigned from the RUC in protest at the agreement.