AURORA | Aurora’s Housing Authority has asked a district court judge to suspend changes made by the City Council to the rules for membership on the authority’s governing board, accusing the council of overstepping its power under state law.

The rule changes passed last month by the council require that appointments to the seven-member housing authority board be made by a majority of the council rather than unilaterally by the mayor.

They also specify that the board should include a certain number of members with a background in the affordable housing business, finance and property development as well as personal experience living in affordable housing or being homeless.

Previously, the only prerequisite for service on the board was that members be Aurora residents registered to vote in the city. The structure of terms for board members has also been overhauled, permitting members to serve no more than two three-year terms rather than an unlimited number of five-year terms.

For current members, depending on when their terms end, that could mean serving four years rather than the five years they were originally appointed for, a detail that was singled out for scrutiny in the authority’s June 28 lawsuit.

“This sweeping initiative has the potential for destructive effects upon the organization’s operating independence and the financial integrity of future housing projects,” the board said in a July 2 statement.

“The ability of enacted public housing authorities to conduct their vital work independent of the varying political motivations of elected officials is exactly what the Housing Authorities Law is designed to protect.”

The council member who sponsored the proposal, Dustin Zvonek, did not respond to an email seeking comment on the allegations by the board that the rule changes violate Colorado law. City of Aurora spokesman Ryan Luby said the city would not comment on the lawsuit and that it had not been formally served with the complaint.

The housing authority’s lawsuit argues that, while state law empowers city councils to change the method by which board members are appointed and remove members for misconduct or neglect of duty, councils may not change the appointment process in a way that abridges the terms of current members.

Because of this, the lawsuit asks the Arapahoe County District Court to delay the enactment of the new rules at least until the end of the case and order that all of the current board be allowed to serve their full terms.

“The authority board stands committed to protection of the authority’s statutory independence and historical integrity,” the board said in its statement. “We will continue to operate as authorized by the authority’s 49-year-old enabling authorization and the precepts of its governing state statutes.”

Zvonek first presented the rule changes to the council in May — at the time, he said it made sense to flesh out the membership rules for the housing authority board and regulate it in a manner similar to the Planning and Zoning Commission since the board is one of the most powerful groups appointed by council members.

“We have lots of different boards and commissions that we place citizens and residents to serve on, but there’s a handful of them that really have some significant decision-making responsibility,” Zvonek said during the council’s May 20 study session.

Before the study session, the housing authority’s executive director, Craig Maraschky, warned in an email to council members that the state had withdrawn its involvement with three affordable housing projects as a result of the proposal being considered, which the state later reported was untrue.

Maraschky would not explain in May why he spread the false claim about the proposal. On Tuesday, he referred questions to Matt Moseley, president of public affairs firm Ignition Strategy Group, who said they would “rather not comment on that today.”

A date has yet to be set for a district court hearing in the case.