In order to "clear the air" on how regional representatives feel about the long-debated proposal to consolidate area municipalities, Centre Region Council of Government's officials voted yesterday to place a consolidation discussion on COG's May agenda.

At a meeting of COG's Executive Committee yesterday to form the forum's March agenda, members discussed how to approach the consolidation issue, said James Steff, COG executive director.

Two possible actions the forum could take in May include voting in favor of consolidation and placing it on a public ballot, or tabling the consolidation talks until 1995, according to suggestions submitted to the committee from College Township Supervisor Lloyd Niemann.

Patton Township Supervisor Philip Park, who was not at the meeting, submitted a letter to COG that suggested consolidation should be achieved by regionalizing current municipal services and then allowing their advantages "to sell the idea of consolidation."

COG officials plan to send letters to members of the forum soliciting their input on the issue, Steff said. Township supervisors and State College Borough Council members will also receive a copy of the original consolidation proposal, written two years ago by council member R. Thomas Berner, Steff said.

In his letter, Park said consolidation could follow naturally from cooperative relationships between local governments.

But if governments do not cooperate, a dissatisfied electorate could choose consolidation as a means of ending the controversy, he said.

The Centre Region is composed of the State College Borough and Ferguson, Patton, Harris, Halfmoon and College townships.

State College Borough Council member Peter Lang, a consolidation advocate, said a constructive discussion would be helpful.

"I don't see anything wrong with putting (consolidation) on the agenda," Lang said. "Anything that anyone wants to talk about is fair game, as long as it's not with the idea of burying consolidation."

Opponents of consolidation have argued that smaller municipalites could lose their individuality and control over their own affairs. But proponents of consolidation say the entire region could profit from extensive program and profit sharing.