PALMDALE SCHEDULE CHANGES EXPECTED LOA REQUESTS MEETING-DAY MOVES.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Palmdale will likely shift its City Council and Redevelopment Agency meetings from Wednesdays to Mondays to accommodate Councilman Richard Loa, who has been appointed to the state parole board.

At Loa's request, the City Council will change its regular meeting dates from the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month to the second and fourth Mondays. The proposed change will come up for a second vote April 28 and, if approved, would be effective for the first meeting in June on June 14.

Loa asked for the change after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced he was appointing the Palmdale councilman to the parole board, which sets conditions for inmates' release and decides whether to free prisoners serving life terms.

The parole board typically conducts its business Tuesdays through Thursdays, making it difficult if not impossible for Loa to make Wednesday night council meetings.

Loa, 55, a Republican who supported Schwarzenegger's gubernatorial campaign, has been a deputy alternate public defender - representing criminal defendants who can't afford their own attorneys - for Los Angeles County since 1994. Also a real estate broker, he has been on the Palmdale council since 2001.

Loa left his job as an alternate public defender to take the state post, starting Monday.

Paying $99,693 a year, the Board of Prison Terms post is a full-time position, state officials said. The board consists of nine commissioners appointed by the governor and approved by the Senate for staggered four-year terms.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com