Palmdale Ca Government Officials

A longtime public works director has been hired as the new general manager of the Palmdale Water District, effective Monday. David W. Hansen will replace outgoing manager Hal Fones, who is retiring after four years as manager of the district, which provides water to more than 70,000 residents in the Palmdale area.

Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford is the only City Council member from the east side of town, home to three-quarters of the population and growing numbers of minorities. The rest of the five-member council lives in the richer, whiter neighborhoods west of the Antelope Valley Freeway. In an effort to spread the political power around, Ledford is backing a Nov. 6 ballot measure that would require future council members to live in newly drawn districts--three of which would be on the east side.

The Palmdale City Council has appointed two new members to the city Planning Commission--a Chamber of Commerce executive and a Los Angeles Fire Department paramedic--from a field of 15 applicants The council on Thursday unanimously confirmed the appointments of Sandy Corrales, 26, vice president of the Palmdale Chamber of Commerce, and Steven Hofbauer, 38, a paramedic for 12 years.

He may have been a pillar of his community. But Kevin Wright Carney, the former Palmdale councilman, former school board president and onetime sheriff's sergeant, had a hidden, more insidious side to him, prosecutors contended Tuesday. "The man is a child molester," said Deputy Dist. Atty. Steve Katz during closing arguments at Carney's trial in a downtown courtroom on multiple charges of child molestation.

The economic development manager for the city of Anaheim will serve as head of Palmdale's redevelopment agency, an increasingly important department as the city seeks to attract job-producing companies. Albert B. McCord will take over Oct. 1 as deputy executive director of Palmdale's Community Redevelopment Agency. McCord has held a similar position in Anaheim since 1986.

The former treasurer of three Los Angeles County cities said Monday that he made an "honest mistake" when he placed--and lost--millions of city dollars in speculative investments. "I gained nothing but a lot of headaches," said Ray Wood. "I have been in this field for 30 years and have had nothing like this happen before."

The city of Palmdale, which has been using a Los Angeles law firm for legal services, has hired its first city attorney saying the move will save money. Angil Jones, who has been city attorney in Turlock since 1989, will assume that office in Palmdale beginning April 1. Her annual salary will be $98,500. "We feel the day-to-day presence of a city attorney will greatly benefit city operations," Mayor Jim Ledford said in a prepared statement.

A former Palmdale city councilman and sexual abuse investigator took the witness stand Wednesday to defend himself against charges that he molested four young girls. Kevin Carney, 49, spoke matter-of-factly and showed little emotion as he tried to explain his relationship with the girls and to deny that he had molested them. "Absolutely not," he replied repeatedly when asked by his defense attorney in Los Angeles Superior Court if he had abused the girls.

Kevin Carney, a Los Angeles County sheriff's sergeant and Palmdale councilman, pleaded not guilty Thursday to 17 felony counts of child molestation and one misdemeanor count of possessing child pornography. Carney, a 23-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department who was elected to the Palmdale City Council in November, surprised authorities by turning himself in at a downtown courtroom. Wearing a blue business suit, the 48-year-old Carney was quiet and appeared tired.

For the city of Palmdale, it's like coming of age. After more than three decades of contracting with outside firms for legal services, the Palmdale City Council has hired an in-house attorney. "We're maturing as a city," said Councilman Jim Root. "A large firm has been our security blanket." In a unanimous vote Thursday, the council approved a three-year contract with Angil Patricia Jones to serve as Palmdale's city attorney, beginning April 1.

A former Palmdale city councilman and sexual abuse investigator took the witness stand Wednesday to defend himself against charges that he molested four young girls. Kevin Carney, 49, spoke matter-of-factly and showed little emotion as he tried to explain his relationship with the girls and to deny that he had molested them. "Absolutely not," he replied repeatedly when asked by his defense attorney in Los Angeles Superior Court if he had abused the girls.

Prosecutors dropped a lewd-act charge Wednesday against former Palmdale City Councilman and retired Sheriff's Sgt. Kevin Wright Carney, who is accused of molesting four Antelope Valley girls, according to the district attorney's office. Carney, 49, will still face 16 other felony child molestation-related counts in his trial, for which jury selection is expected to begin today. He faces a maximum life sentence if convicted of all counts. Some of the alleged molestations date back a decade.

Prosecutors dropped a lewd act charge Wednesday against former Palmdale city councilman and retired sheriff's Sgt. Kevin Wright Carney, who is accused of molesting four Antelope Valley girls, according to the district attorney's office. Carney, 49, still faces 16 other felony child molestation-related counts at his upcoming trial. Jury selection is expected to begin today. He faces a maximum life sentence if convicted of all counts.

Kevin Carney, the former Palmdale city councilman and sheriff's sergeant charged with molesting four Antelope Valley girls, has been released on bail. Carney's release follows last Friday's decision by a Superior Court judge to reduce his bail from $1 million to $500,000. Since January, Carney, 48, had been held in an isolation cell at the Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles. His initial bail was $2 million but was lowered to $1 million in March. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Kevin Carney, the former Palmdale city councilman and Los Angeles County sheriff's sergeant charged with molesting four Antelope Valley girls, has posted bail and is back at home with his family. Sheriff's officials said Carney was released from Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles about 8:30 p.m. Monday. Members of his family came to the adjacent Inmate Reception Center to meet him. Reached by telephone at his Palmdale home Tuesday afternoon, Carney said, "I'm glad to be home . . .

A Superior Court judge Thursday refused to lower the $1-million bail for Kevin Wright Carney, the former Los Angeles County sheriff's sergeant and Palmdale city councilman accused of molesting four Antelope Valley girls. Despite pleas from Carney, his wife, two sons and a brother, Judge Larry Fidler said the bail amount was appropriate given the seriousness of the 17 felony child molestation charges filed in January.

Three Los Angeles County cities--San Marino, Lawndale and Palmdale--could lose nearly $8 million because of speculative investments made by their treasurer, city officials said Friday. Officials in all three cities said they will ask the county district attorney to investigate whether the investments were legal. The treasurer, Ray Wood, could not be reached for comment. Officials said they had no knowledge that he personally profited from the investments.

Clyde Evans, director of planning for the city of Palmdale since October, 1988, has resigned effective June 14 to take a similar job with the Iowa city of West Des Moines, officials in both cities said. Evans said his decision was based on a desire to be closer to relatives in Illinois and to seek a change of scenery from Los Angeles County's high desert to the "green, lush environment" of the Des Moines suburb.

Retired sheriff's sergeant and former Palmdale City Councilman Kevin Wright Carney was ordered Wednesday to stand trial on charges that over the past 10 years he repeatedly molested three girls at his office, in his truck, at the girls' homes and during a camping trip. Los Angeles County sheriff's investigator Sgt. Allan Smith gave the girls' accounts of sexual abuse during testimony at Carney's preliminary hearing.

When Palmdale gets a bad rap, few are quicker to defend it than longtime resident Kevin Wright Carney. "A lot of people like to point out the bad things that go on up here," he said a few months ago. "They love to point out the child abuse, the meth and the gang problems which came to us from down below." Down below is Los Angeles, 70 miles south, over the San Gabriel Mountains and a world away in crime, traffic and urban woes. Yet it is in a downtown jail cell, the same one used by O.J.