The 2018 International Plowing Match (IPM) in Chatham-Kent needs a paid staff member to help with marketing and organizing.
Event co-chair and North Kent Councillor Leon Leclair will make that case before Chatham-Kent Council Monday night.
Part of Leclair's motion involves putting $100,000 ($50,000 a year) toward hiring an employee for 2017-2018 to help with marketing and organizing the IPM.
"We're going to have potentially between 100,000-135,000 visitors so there's a lot to do to get ready," says Leclair. "We're all volunteers doing this right now so we need somebody permanently to help us with everything."
If approved, Leclair says it'll go through the municipality's economic development department.
His motion also involves having administration compile a report on the service requirements from the different municipal departments. In addition, he's requesting for the expenditures to be presented to council during this year's budget process.
Leclair adds the IPM serves as a way to show off Chatham-Kent and create economic potential.
"I just talked to the Ontario Plowmen's Association out of Guelph," says Leclair. "They have the data that says [for] 2015 the economic spin-offs were $23-million."
