Jimmy Manning is Kinngait’s new mayor after Toonoo steps down

Updated April 18 at 11 a.m.

Kinngait has a new mayor.

Former hamlet councillor Jimmy Manning has been appointed as mayor of Kinngait. He takes the position after former mayor Timoon Toonoo stepped down due to health reasons. (File photo)

Jimmy Manning was appointed to the position by the hamlet council at a meeting Tuesday.

“It’s a fresh start for me,” Manning said.

He replaces Timoon Toonoo, who recently resigned because of health reasons.

Manning will hold the mayoral position until the next municipal election in October.

Manning spent the past eight years as a hamlet councillor and has been an employee of the West Baffin Eskimo Co-op for 50 years, according to a Facebook announcement from the Hamlet of Kinngait.

When Toonoo was going to step down, Manning’s name was forwarded as a possible replacement.

Without no other names put forward, he said felt he needed to accept the position.

“My goal is to continue what was already happening [at the hamlet],” Manning said.

Some of the projects he wants to continue include fixing sewage problems in Kinngait as well as improving safety conditions for ships when they offload.

The job will be made easier by the fact he already has a working relationship with council and the senior administrative officer, Manning said.

“It’s all teamwork … we got good employees here,” he said.

As for whether Manning will run for mayor in the fall election, he is unsure.

“We’ll see closer to the fall,” he said.

Note: In a previous version of this story, Timoon Toonoo’s name was misspelled