Chace Barber and Eric Little

The mayor of Merritt says new overtures are being offered to Edison Motors to try to keep the electric-hybrid logging truck manufacturer from leaving the city — including the possibility of a home on municipal-owned land. Mike Goetz says while he’s been acting as a facilitator between Edison and local land owners to find the space needed to fit the company’s needs, he says he’s also offered up 4 acres of refurbished land at the Merritt Airport which the company could use as a start-up option. “We are redoing our airport. We have … about 4 acres that we could lease to them to get them started,” Goetz told Radio NL. “Edison co-founder Eric Little said that would work. They’d be able to get about 25 trucks out a year.” Goetz suggests this would likely be a bridging solution to help keep Edison in Merritt while other opportunities potentially arise.