The committee organizing the 2018 International Plowing Match will be getting an extra set of hands.
During Monday night's council meeting, Councillor Leon Leclair motioned for $100,000 ($50,000 per year) to go towards hiring a temporary employee for 2017-2018, to help with organizing and marketing.
In recognizing the positive impact the IPM is expected to have in Chatham-Kent, council passed the motion.
The co-chair for the event, Councillor Darrin Canniff, says it's not clear yet whether that employee will be hired internally.
"We're working with administration to get the ball rolling to find the appropriate person," says Canniff.
He adds it'll probably take a couple of months to find the right person for the job.
Funding for the temporary position will come out of the Strategic Development Reserve. As stated in council, this decision will have no impact on the 2017 budget.
Meanwhile, volunteers for the IPM will continue working on the event. Canniff says they've chosen a site for the IPM in Pain Court, but they can't release the details just yet.
"We're looking to take this over the top," he says. "[I'd] love to share plans but we've kind of got the cap on those until a little later on."
Canniff says the last time Chatham-Kent held an event of this magnitude was in 1979, which is why so much effort is going into the IPM and the smaller events associated with it.