On Wednesday night, councillors voted in favour of financially supporting the event in the form of $15,000 of in-kind support and $20,000 from council’s unrestricted revenue reserve. 

The successful motion followed a lengthy discussion at last month’s council meeting in Curlewis where councillors moved to defer a decision on the topic until Wednesday’s meeting.

Councillor Owen Hasler told last night’s council meeting he believed deferring the decision was the right call.

“I applaud the officer for doing his due diligence in putting together the report on this motion,” he said. “The decision to review the proposal at last month’s council meeting was a good one.

“It is much easier to justify the the funds to the community when you now have all of the facts and figures.”

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eIMEX media relations officer and fellow councillor Rob Hooke said council’s support was “pivotal” to the expo’s success.

“We now have the funds to start seriously advertising and getting the message of the expo out to the community,” Cr Hooke said.

“The support will also flag to other stakeholders of the event that council is supportive of the event and that in turn will give the stakeholders more confidence.

“Without council’s support, we were unconvinced the expo would go ahead.” 

The expo will be held at the Gunnedah Showgrounds on November 1-3.