Jacksonville’s City Council is not allowed to appoint a third member of the city’s Police and Fire Pension Fund board, according to a letter from the state that stymies pending legislation trying to do exactly that.

The council had interpreted a change in state law as letting it pick the fifth member of the board, which is now selected by the board’s four other members.

Two of those members are appointed by the council and the other two elected by police officers and firefighters.

But fund critics have complained that council-appointed trustees, some having served more than 20 years, might have become complacent.

So, the council moved to replace its two trustees — one of which had already resigned — and also to change the setup so it gets to pick the fifth member.

Not so fast, said Keith Brinkman, bureau chief for local retirement systems for the state Department of Management Services. Since the Legislature set up the composition of the board, he wrote in a letter copied to council President Bill Bishop, “it appears, therefore, that any change in the makeup of the board may have to be approved by the legislature.”