Brian Small has been selected as the Scottish Conservative and Unionist candidate for the Haddington & Lammermuir ward.
He was selected at a meeting attended by local party members, and promised to provide a strong voice for the area on East Lothian Council.
Brian formerly worked in the financial sector before retiring in 2015, and has lived in Pencaitland (which will form part of the new expanded Haddington and Lammermuir ward) since 1994 with his wife Karen who works at a local primary school.
Since his retirement, Brian has used his financial services experience in his role as a board member with a Scottish mental health charity.
He will stand in place of Ludovic Broun Lindsay, who announced last week that he would not be running next May.
Commenting after his selection, Brian Small said:
“Having lived in East Lothian for over 22 years I am delighted to have the chance to run for the Council.
“Haddington and Lammermuir is a fantastic area and I look forward to speaking to as many residents as possible over the coming months to seek their views on how we can together make East Lothian an even better place to live.
“I want to fight this election on providing better local bus services and protecting our local schools and GP surgeries from the increasing burden they are having to shoulder.
“I also want to stop the creeping centralisation of services and responsibilities from the local authorities to Holyrood, as it threatens to undermine the work of our Council.
“I know following on from a dedicated public servant such as Ludovic Broun-Lindsay will not be easy, but I believe that I can be a hard-working, dependable and consistent representative on the Council.”