10/01/2026
What does it mean to live in Wonder Lake?
It means living around a beautiful, quiet, private lake that has been part of this community for nearly 100 years.
It means something else, too.
It means living alongside people who are young and old. People who have plenty and people who are watching every dollar.
In other words, Wonder Lake is America in miniature.
We don't all agree. We never have.
But there is one thing we should be able to agree on:
We have a responsibility to deal honestly with the future of the lake we all chose to live beside.
Right now, the Wonder Lake MPOA has put a proposal before its delegates that could dramatically increase assessments, from $44 to as much as $927 annually, to address the accumulation of silt in our 100-year-old manmade lake, protect the dam, and ultimately replace it for the generations that follow us, along with other essential projects.
Nobody is pretending that $927 is insignificant.
For many, it isn't.
And nobody should be surprised that people are angry, frightened or resistant to such a dramatic increase.
But there is another uncomfortable truth we need to face.
The lake's problems did not begin this year.
For decades, we have repeatedly resisted increases proposed by the board, postponed difficult decisions and hoped that somehow the problem would become someone else's problem.
It didn't.
The problem simply got older.
And more expensive.
And more difficult.
Now we are watching a community tear itself apart over the price of finally addressing it.
Some people are demanding audits. Some are threatening lawsuits. Some are spreading rumors. Some are calling names. Some are telling their neighbors that anyone who supports the proposal must have some hidden motive.
There are legitimate questions that deserve legitimate answers. By all means, ask them. We've held many public meetings so you could ask.
But questions are not the same thing as solutions.
And anger is not a plan.
There are some 80 delegates who will ultimately vote on this proposal on October 14.
Think about what we are asking of those 80 people.
They are our neighbors.
They shop where we shop. Their kids go to the same schools. They sit beside us at community events.
And right now, some are afraid of what will happen to them personally if they vote one way or the other. Some are nervous about being confronted by their own neighbors. Some are being intimidated by the very people they were elected to represent.
That is not the Wonder Lake we believe in.
We can disagree passionately without making our neighbors afraid to vote their conscience.
We can ask for transparency without assuming corruption.
We can question the numbers without pretending the underlying problem doesn't exist.
We can struggle with the cost without pretending there is no cost to doing nothing.
And most importantly, we can stop asking the question:
"How do we avoid paying for this?"
And start asking:
"What will happen if we don't?"
Because October 14 is not a vote on whether the lake has a problem.
The lake already has a problem.
It is not a vote on whether the dam will eventually need major work.
It will.
And it is not a vote that somehow makes the cost disappear if the proposal fails.
It doesn't.
The bill simply gets handed to the future, with interest.
Maybe the proposal before us isn't perfect.
Maybe it needs changes, additional safeguards, better explanations or greater accountability.
Those are legitimate things to debate.
But let's have that debate with facts, not rumors. With questions, not accusations. With respect, not intimidation.
Because someday, all of us will be gone.
The people who bought homes here after us will still be here.
Their children will still be swimming in this lake.
And someday they will ask a very simple question:
"When you knew there was a problem, what did you do about it?"
We have an opportunity right now to give them an answer we can be proud of.
Not because everyone agrees.
Not because this proposal is perfect.
But because after 60 years of postponing the hard conversation, we finally decided to have it.
Wonder Lake belongs to none of us permanently.
We are temporary caretakers of something that was here before most of us arrived and, if we do this right, will still be here long after we're gone.
Let's act like caretakers.
Let's educate ourselves.
Let's ask hard questions.
Let's listen to people we disagree with.
And then let's have the courage to make a decision based on the lake's actual future, rather than our fear of the price of dealing with it today.
Let's all step up and step in. Volunteer to help. Stop spreading rumors about the very people who are trying to help your community. Your neighbors, who did step up and volunteer.
We don't have to agree on everything to agree that Wonder Lake is worth taking care of.
That's the community I want to live in.
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