jmed999 welcome to the forum, you'll get plenty of pond related advice and knowledge here, but try not to get discouraged if many of the people on your pond don't see eye to eye with you.
I lived on a small lake in Virginia 30 years ago and a very few of us tried to improve it, we found most of the residents long on idea's but short on money and help, so a few of us ended up putting in structure on our own.

I wish you better luck than I had, this is a great forum to learn on.