Elis Ziegler

Athol Ward Five

An active volunteer and entrepreneur, Elis Ziegler runs a home-based business and apiary through the Curious Goat General Store where they educate visitors about bees and the importance of pollinators. Ziegler has served the County as chair of Picton Town Hall and helped establish its farmers’ market. They were the inaugural secretary of the Affordable Housing Corporation and is current treasurer of the South Marysburgh Recreation Board. Ziegler is also a writer and part of a team of volunteer director/producers for the radio play series Tales from the Marysburgh Vortex to be aired this winter on 99.3 CountyFM.

Ziegler said council needs to take an aggressive approach to create more rental housing stock to tackle the issue of affordable housing. “Rental housing rates have increased as much as 50 per cent in the last two years,” they said. While they admit the County has made gains with the Affordable Housing Corporation, secondary suites and allowing the footprint of new homes to encourage affordability, they said there is more work to do. “Restrictions on non-resident-owned whole house (short-term rentals) does not go far enough,” said Ziegler. “All on-line booking platforms need to be part of the solution.” Ziegler said Council should pursue provincial or federal funds to encourage commercial accommodation development and provide incentives to increase housing stock in downtown cores. “Younger families who used to live in the County need to be able to afford to return,” they said, adding: “Younger families are only going to be helped by marketplace conditions not bylaws at this point.”

Tourism may be the major economic driver in the County, but Ziegler believes the County needs more diversification in its economy. “To achieve balance, we need to encourage economic development in County resident-owned, non-tourism-based, four-season businesses,” they said. “As a councillor, I would like to see more priority given to resident access to our natural environment as part of the Tourism Management Plan, and make environmental protections part of that plan.”

Addressing the issue of high water rates in the County is a matter of communication, Ziegler said. “Clearer communication to explain the need for, and current cost of, our water systems would go a long way to explain current high costs are primarily due to infrastructure development in preparation of incoming residents’ homes which don’t exist yet.” Ziegler favours a reevaluation of the water system’s fee structures.

They said the County is working hard on heritage issue, but not enough is being done for the environment even after declaring a climate emergency. “The County is at a crossroads of sufficient environmental stewardship. It needs to have a comprehensive plan behind its climate emergency declaration, active promotion of residential resource conservation and enforcement of that plan.”

As to the issue of the size of council, Ziegler said many areas need to be explored before asking residents to vote on it again in 2026, including: Job descriptions and performance expectations for councillors; the amount of time and travel involved on council; whether the rate of pay is adequate; and how a smaller council would impact County businesses and residents.