My husband and I discovered Kelseyville on a cold, rainy Sunday in February 2001 when we reached the top of the Hopland Grade and took a deep breath as we admired the vast expanse of Lake County.

Looking down, it was hard for us to reconcile what we had just been told at an open house in Sonoma when the Realtor said, “They don’t like your kind in Lake County.”

Soon after the first visit we bought a ranch in Kelseyville which eventually became our full-time home. We found people open, accepting and willing to change long held stereotypes. We quickly became known as the “Guys on Gaddy.”

We started a business in downtown Kelseyville (www.suiteonmain.com) and joined the Kelseyville Business Association. We opened our ranch up to weddings, memorials, fundraisers and community gatherings. To say that we were welcomed by the Kelseyville community would be putting it mildly.

One didn't have to scratch too far below the surface to figure out who the town was named after. It has always been a conundrum for us. A town born at a time of so much anger and violence has healed itself and become a welcoming community, a town of festivals, strong family values, good neighbors, successful businesses, civic pride and acceptance.

Myself and others took on the project of building the town's visitor website www.visitkelseyville.com. We bought the URL and built a brand deck that provided a roadmap of economic prosperity to the community.

We invested countless hours into marketing Kelseyville as the friendly country town it has come to be known.

We looked at our demographics and realized that we were not speaking to all of Kelseyville’s 3,500 residents, principally the Latino community. We set about making changes and from that exploration the “Dia de La Independencia” festival was created which now rivals any of the largest festivals in Lake County. We pride ourselves on being a community for all.

Having spent many decades in marketing in the San Francisco Bay Area and also having worked on some of Lake County’s biggest brands — Steele Wines, Visit Kelseyville and now Visit Lake County — I can say from experience that a name change from Kelseyville to Konocti would set our town and the county back several decades. While it will vindicate some well-intended people, it would deliver a gut punch to the town.

Truthfully, given this decision will be made by individuals who have never been here, it really is more of a sucker punch to the people of Kelseyville.

I would argue that we are in a far stronger place today to demonstrate who we are and what we stand for as the united community we have become.

Our tiny little town sits in the long shadow of a far bigger reminder of those who inhabited this land well before us — Mount Konocti.

That landmark should not be diluted into one town’s name. It would be repeating the same mistake as when The Highlands was renamed after Clear Lake.

Kelseyville is not perfect but we strive to be a town that looks to building a future that is for everyone and in no way represents the beliefs and values of one of its abhorrent founders.

Brian Fisher lives in Kelseyville, California.