The civil war continues at a Mitchell-Lama complex in Van Cortlandt Village.

Following opposition to a plan by the Board of Directors to replace management services by Amalgamated Houses for another, more than 100 cooperators living at Park Reservoir approved a proposal to modify the building’s bylaws to prevent its management firm to be replaced without two-thirds support of tenants.

But the proposal, approved 111 to 35 in favor, must be approved by the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR), the agency that oversees Mitchell-Lama cooperatives. If this amendment is approved, cooperators could thwart the board’s yearlong plan to overthrow Amalgamated Houses.

“We felt it was important to make this statement,” said Gary Axelbank, a longtime resident who helped form The Committee to Save Park Reservoir. “It is a moral responsibility for [the board] to represent the people that voted for them.”

Meanwhile, the board’s vice president, Steve Zitrin, who’s pushing for the hiring of a new management firm, deems the tenants’ attempt to adopt a new bylaw request pointless since it would violate business corporation law and interfere with the board’s jurisdiction by taking power away from the governing body. He added that the tenants’ reactions are over the stop since they “don’t have any facts” other than what the committee and board president Andrew Kimerling–one of the three board members against the plan–has fed them.

While there are indications from the state that the bylaw changes won’t “pass the smell test,” Axelbank said the agency only expressed an opinion based on other cases they have seen in the past and that Park Reservoir’s case is a special one that should be considered.

“Regardless of what the state decides and what the legal issues are, it was very important to establish that three-quarters of the people who voted expressed that they didn’t like that they were left out of the process,” Axelbank said. “The larger picture is that cooperators came out to voice that they want to have a say in their own future and they don’t like what this board did in making decisions without them.”

For over a year, Park Reservoir’s board members sought to hire a new management team and, after searching for about a year, selected Midas Management, a family-owned realty management in the Bronx, to replace Amalgamated Houses.

“How can [Midas Management] be the best choice if they have no Mitchell-Lama experience?” 20-year cooperative Mary Copeland asked. “That is such a complex task. I can’t imagine that the learning curve would be for someone who has never dealt this. I don’t even know why they’d want to deal with this.”

Co-op owners weren’t aware of the board’s plan until July when the board’s search was nearly completed, and argued the board stood opaque during the vetting process.

The board’s process in seeking new management also got the state’s attention as it seems they were “ramming” through the process and failing to comply with the DHCR’s policies, according to Kimerling.

Currently, Park Reservoir offers a number of services and amenities, including an education program, custodial services such as pre-dawn snow shoveling, and health and social services to senior citizens.

Zitrin maintains that replacing Amalgamated Housing is the best financial route Park Reservoir can take, giving it more control over finances and prevent rent hikes. With Midas Management, Park Reservoir could save about $250,000 per year, according to Zitrin. Kimerling disagrees.

“[The board] wants to go from a not-for-profit organization that runs you to a for-profit organization. There’s not going to be a benefit there at all,” Kimerling explained.