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Gil
Coerper has been an active member of the Huntington Beach community for over four decades. Born and
raised in Kennosha , 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.
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