About LOLA

Letter from the President – Fall 2024

The buoys are in and away for the winter, the leaves are beginning to change, and many of us are trying to squeeze that last boat ride out of fall before the inevitable – getting the boat out of the water and into winter storage. As I reflect on 2024, I’m pleased with the accomplishments LOLA has made this year. Looking back at my President’s Message from early spring, the LOLA Board set three focus areas for 2024: membership, communication, and water safety.

Membership
Looking back at 2023, we closed the year with 135 members. We started our membership drive in early 2024 and with the launch of the new LOLA Website www.lolainfo.org we currently have 162 members. Although this is disappointing when you consider there are over 900 homes on the lake and some of our members are not lakefront residents, it is an increase of 20% from 2023. The membership process is now on-line through the website, allowing members to complete and submit the membership form on-line, and also pay the $20 membership dues as part of the process through PayPal and Zelle.

Communication
2024 was a big year for LOLA for communications. We’ve published four newsletters so far in 2024 and plan one more closing the season. Newsletters have been focused on a combination of LOLA events and topics of interest to our lake residents. We have also increased our usage of social media including our LOLA Facebook page and the Lake Orion Chatroom on Facebook. We completed a total redesign of our website www.lolainfo.org making it much more user friendly, with specific areas for LOLA information, membership, events and activities, water quality testing, and links to areas of interest to our members. Also included in the new website are automated forms for membership and contacting LOLA, streamlining both processes.

Water Safety
We continued our communication in 2024 with our local law enforcement agencies including the DNR, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Marine Division, and our Lake Orion Village Police, with an emphasis on reinforcing the simple boating rules including counterclockwise direction on the lake, the proper use of PFDs, regard for no-wake areas, dusk-to-dawn speed, and using common sense and courtesy to keep the lake safe for everyone. We’ve also worked with them to increase their presence on the lake, particularly during high traffic times. After becoming aware of the need for some new safety equipment on the village patrol boat, we made a donation to the village police to procure the needed safety equipment. We also sponsored a boater’s safety class in June with an emphasis on middle and high school teenage enrollees. In partnership with the Oakland County Sheriff, we had 65 participants with the majority coming from our local middle and high schools.

In all, 2024 was a very busy year. Looking ahead at 2025, we plan to build on the momentum created in 2024 to make 2025 even more exciting. We are looking ahead to continue our efforts around membership, communication, and water safety, with plans to explore new events and activities focused on community service (safety/information at the boat launch), social events (youth fishing tournament), and education (invasive species, boater’s safety).

In closing, I’d like to recognize four long-time LOLA board members who recently retired from the board. Jerry Richards, Tom Patterson, Richard Benoit, and Chris Brouwer have served LOLA over the years on the board and made numerous contributions. We appreciate their dedication and leadership and look forward to their continued support as LOLA members.

George Dandalides
President, Lake Orion Lake Association (LOLA)