Merritt City Council declines offer from Gold Country to continue geocaching program

In January 2020, Merritt City Council resolved to not renew a tourism agreement with Gold Country.

“The City of Merritt is actively participating in COVID-19 initiatives with our regional partners (Thompson-Okanagan Tourism Association and Destination BC) around mountain biking, fishing, and hiking opportunities to ensure that the City is positioned to be open for tourism as restrictions begin to ease and the public resumes traveling,” wrote Deputy Corporate Officer Linda Brick.

At the time, Councillor Kurt Christopherson expressed interest in discussing options for keeping the geocaches in the Nicola Valley active which are maintained by Gold Country.

“The Society has advised that due to COVID-19 they did not distribute invoices for the Gold Country Geotour program in 2020;on May 3, 2021the Society sent a letter to staff requesting the City of Merritt pay $4,000 annually to continue benefitting from being included in the Gold Country Geotour program,” added Brick.

On Tuesday (May 25), City Council voted to accept the report for information, thus allowing the geocaches to be removed from the City.

Mayor Linda Brown mentioned that only two geocaches were within city limits with the remaining in the TNRD’s jurisdiction.