Trustee Area 3 voters will choose between incumbent board president Dr. Steve Gibson and challenger David Coher, a 49-year-old Pasadena mediator and attorney. The contest puts questions about fiscal oversight and student affordability before voters in a seat spanning Northwest Pasadena and part of southwest Altadena. Coher filed to run in August.
A Challenger With Deep Local Roots
Gibson joined the Pasadena Area Community College District governing board in 2022 and now serves as its president, according to Pasadena Now. The district’s Area 3 includes Northwest Pasadena and parts of southwest and west Altadena; Pasadena Now noted that the west Altadena area was burned in the Eaton Fire in January 2025. Coher, who works as a mediator and serves on the Pasadena Rental Housing Board, has cited his community college experience as a reason for seeking a trustee seat.
Pasadena Now reported that Coher began his higher education at Long Beach City College before transferring to USC on a scholarship. He later earned a JD with honors from Georgetown, also on scholarship. Coher has pointed to that path from community college student to attorney as part of his case for serving on a community college district board.
A Long Record on City Boards
Coher’s public-service record includes eight years on the Pasadena Planning Commission, including a term as chair, according to his Daily Breeze candidate questionnaire. Pasadena Now reported that he was appointed as a District 1 nominee in July 2015, served on the commission until 2023, chaired it in 2019, and served throughout that period on the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals. He also served on the Pasadena City Council Redistricting Task Force.
In April, the Pasadena City Council voted 5-0 to appoint Coher to the city’s Rental Housing Board, choosing him from 10 qualified applicants. Pasadena Now reported that then-council member Rick Cole nominated him and said he held Coher in high regard as a prospective board member. At the time, three board vacancies remained unfilled, according to Pasadena Now.
A Career Spent Resolving Disputes
Coher runs Coher ADR, a mediation and arbitration practice at 530 South Lake Avenue in Pasadena. Pasadena Now reported that he is listed on the U.S. District Court, Central District of California’s Alternative Dispute Resolution panel and serves as an arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association. Earlier in his career, he held roles at Southern California Edison in energy contracts management and cybersecurity, and he filed a sworn filing with the California Public Utilities Commission in 2022.
Fiscal Oversight as the Central Pitch
Coher has identified fiscal oversight as his central concern for the college district, describing PCC's annual budget as more than $230 million, driven largely by state apportionment and local property tax, the report states. He has said PCC's funding cushion against swings in the state's funding formula has expired, even as California has cut career and technical education program funding statewide by roughly 20 percent. He said he would review which revenue is one-time money versus ongoing, and scrutinize commitments contingent on enrollment levels or a state budget vote.
What the District’s Financial Statements Show
The district’s financial statements for the year ended June 30, 2025, report a General Unrestricted Fund Balance of $51,940,336, consisting primarily of one-time carryover funds. The statements also say state apportionments, state-mandated-cost reimbursements and property taxes make up approximately 85% of unrestricted General Fund income, according to the Pasadena Area Community College District. These figures provide a snapshot for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025; they do not establish a five-year trend in reserves, recurring operating balances, or one-time revenues and expenses.
The fiscal debate comes as PCC invests in facilities: the college broke ground on a construction trades lab at its main campus in January and has expanded a permanent satellite campus in Rosemead, according to Pasadena Now. Coher has argued that the lab could train regional builders needed for rebuilding after the Eaton Fire, pointing to a shortage of local workers with required construction skills on Pasadena development projects. He has also pushed for local-hire provisions in those projects.
Affordability and the Student Housing Question
Coher's priorities extend beyond fiscal governance. In his Daily Breeze questionnaire, he named student access, affordability and success as his top priority, with PCC's long-term fiscal and institutional stability as his second. He wants PCC to seriously explore student housing as part of that affordability push, citing the college's own estimate that a resident student living away from home faces a nine-month cost of attendance of more than $34,000 — including more than $24,000 annually in food and housing alone, compared with roughly $1,200 in resident enrollment fees.
Student housing has featured in earlier PCC trustee races; staff retention and declining enrollment were also prominent issues in the 2022 contest, the Pasadena Star-News reported. Coher has cited Long Beach City College’s planned student housing project, which was scheduled to break ground in October and provide 431 total units. In his questionnaire, he also called for responsible AI literacy at PCC, saying students should learn to use AI tools and critically assess their output, including risks involving inaccuracy, bias, privacy and intellectual property.
How the Board Decides
Coher has also criticized the board’s decision-making, arguing that four-to-three votes that exclude the minority do not resolve underlying issues. In a Pasadena Now candidate-story interview, he urged voters to consider completion rates alongside enrollment growth, saying that more enrollment does not necessarily mean better outcomes. In a guest opinion for Pasadena Now, he urged voters to consider a candidate forum. PCC serves more than 27,000 students each semester across more than 150 associate degree programs and 125 certificate programs, according to the same opinion.
Gibson campaigned in 2022 on expanding PCC’s certificate programs and vocational education opportunities and increasing accountability and transparency, the Pasadena Star-News reported. He took an early lead against then-incumbent Berlinda Brown, with 57% of the vote as of June 8, 2022, according to the outlet. Area 3 voters will decide whether Gibson remains in the board president’s seat or Coher takes it, with the challenger emphasizing budget scrutiny and student affordability.
