Candidate for
Council Member; City of Huntington Beach

Mayor Pro Tem Gil Coerper has been an active member of the Huntington Beach community for over four decades. Born and raised in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Gil has always been a leader. He served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War and learned the true meaning of leadership, integrity, and accountability. He later joined the California State Military Reserve and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

Gil moved to Huntington Beach and served as a police officer in the City for 39 years. His fellow officers recognized his leadership skills and elected him to the California Peace Officers Memorial Foundation and the California Police Officers Research Association, where he later served as a director. As a founding board member for the Peace Officers' Memorial Foundation, he helped build the superb monument on the State Capitol grounds that is a memorial to peace officers who died in the line of duty.

Gil's contributions to our community reach far beyond police work. Long active in the Boy Scouts, he organized Orange County's first Military Explorer Post 558 for youth to explore a career in the military. Because of his efforts, the Boy Scouts of America honored him with the Exploring Division's Award of Merit and the prestigious Silver Beaver Award. The United States Military Academy in West Point, New York appointed Gil as their admissions coordinator for Los Angeles and Orange Counties. He served on the military academy appointments committee for two local congressmen.

Since his election to the Huntington Beach City Council in 2002, Gil has served with honesty and integrity. He has voted to maintain the high quality of life in Huntington Beach by working to ensure the Police Department has the necessary resources to protect public safety and the Fire and Marine Safety Departments are ready to respond to emergencies. His voting record supported balanced City budgets, protecting property rights, and supporting economic development. By voting with the Council majority on important projects like Lowe's Hardware and Pacific City, new revenues will be generated to pay for the City's high quality services.

As a result of the smoking ban ordinance that Gil authored and City Council adopted, the City's beaches are cleaner and healthier. When citizens restored and reopened Shipley Nature Center, Gil worked to have a parking lot built and designed the entrance sign. Working with the Downtown Business Improvement District leaders, he has helped find ways to make it easier to conduct business in the downtown. An ADA-compliant ramp was built for City Hall and a Peace Pole placed near the Police Department entrance through Gil's efforts. Finally, Gil led the City Council's adoption of Camp Pendleton's Third Battalion, First Marine Regiment and is the committee's chair. Because of this adoption, Huntington Beach now supports and assists the families of hundreds of Marines during their stateside deployments and to Iraq.

Always a man of the people, Gil is a proponent of public safety, economic development, property rights, and protecting our oceans. Gil will work to ensure Huntington Beach's public safety and emergency services remain the best in Orange County, promote a positive atmosphere for business development, upgrade and maintain our City's public works and traffic infrastructure, and prevent the taking of private property by eminent domain actions or restrictive ordinances.

Gil and his wife Louann have been married for 33 years. They have two sons, Michael, a Captain in the United States Army where he has served three tours in Iraq, and Scott, who is enrolled in the nursing program at Golden West College.