Eagle Mountain Mayor Brian Olsen will not step down.

With residents standing against the walls of a full council chamber Tuesday, Olsen apologized to the city for lying about having a master's degree -- and vowed to retain his office.

Over the past two days, many, if not all, Eagle Mountain residents received an anonymous letter attached to their front doors asking them to attend Tuesday's City Council meeting and demand the mayor's resignation.

But that's not what happened.

"If the mayor won't resign, he should be fired," read the letter. "We have had it with embarrassing Eagle Mountain mayors making national headlines. It is time to put a stop to it. ... Any of us in the corporate world know that if we lie about our qualifications we will be fired from our place of employment. Why should Brian Olsen get a pass and be rewarded with a $70,000-a-year paycheck coming out of our pockets?"

But rather than berate the mayor Tuesday evening, all but three of 11 residents who spoke at the meeting voiced support, though many said they were disappointed.

Resident Charlotte Ducos said that if her child stole candy from a store, she would require an apology but would not kick him out of the family.

"I do not accept lying in any form and it is a big deal, but a big deal is not the same as a show stopper," she said, noting "obviously it would have been better if he had confessed without being confronted."

"I want to make an appeal for the politics of destruction to come to an end in Eagle Mountain," Ducos said. "It's not good for the city, it's not good for the residents. Let's hold the mayor responsible in a way that is appropriate and reasonable and move forward."

Resident Kristin Cable asked the mayor to resign.

"I'm outraged," she said. "Honor and integrity are extremely important to me and it was extremely distressful to find out our mayor is a liar. If he stays in office, he will damage the city more. In the interest of the city you serve, I'm asking you to step down."

After the public comment period, councilmen David Blackburn and Vincent Liddiard asked the mayor to allow council members to voice their opinions on the matter. The mayor asked other council members if they wanted to change the agenda and when they declined, Olsen did not allow Blackburn and Liddiard to speak.

Olsen then spoke to those gathered.

"I am sorry," he said. "I have let my family, my friends and my colleagues down and all of you and there is nothing that can justify that."

Olsen said he had earned a certified public managers certificate, called a CPM, and when people did not recognize the meaning of the state-sponsored certificate, he began equating it to a master's degree in public administration.

"The more I made this comparison, the more I liked the way it sounded," he said. "Eventually sheer repetition and my own vanity convinced me that my CPM was actually an MPA."

In a written statement to the media, Olsen said he considered resigning "in the early hours after this came to light," but friends and family told him to finish his term.

No Eagle Mountain mayor has yet served a full term, he said.

The city was incorporated in December 1996.

"Grave though my errors have been, the consequences to the city of another mayor prematurely leaving office are worse," he said. "Resigning would be the easy way out. Furthermore, the fact remains that I am highly qualified to do the job of running this city. ... I will not resign."