Committees in the State College Borough and Patton Township have both decided to support a report that recommends consolidating the Centre Region's five townships and the borough to form one city.

Consolidation has been an issue in the Centre Region since 1967. Recently, the Centre Region Government Study Committee completed a report that recommends consolidation occur through a gradual process.

The municipalities which would be consolidated are College, Ferguson, Harris, Halfmoon and Patton townships and the State College Borough.

A copy of the Centre Region report is not available to the public or the news media. The information will not be released until next month's meeting of the Centre Region Council of Governments General Forum on May 24, said Tom Kurtz, Patton Township manager.

Although the two municipalities have approved the report, representatives of both said consolidation would not be an easy process.

"I don't think you're going to get this by having elected officials throw their arms around each others' necks and say 'We're going to get this,' " said Richard Bland, a member of the State College committee.

Patton Township Committee Member Leslie Montz said the municipalities have cooperated as much as possible and consolidation needs to be completed quickly.

"If the (Centre Region) committee is going to tiptoe around the subject, I'll be dead before we see consolidation," Montz said.

The State College committee recommended that the State College Borough Council create a referendum task force to get the issue on the 1996 election ballot. It also wants the council to sponsor a public information program to educate residents about consolidation.

Borough Council Member Jean McManis said it would be useless to have the referendum placed on the ballot any sooner because it would not be on the ballot in other municipalities.

"It's kind of like saying 'I do' when you're all alone at the altar," McManis said.

Patton Township representatives favor the consolidation report, but they want to make their general concerns about the proposal known. The committee plans to add a list of their major concerns to the study. It also plans to include an independent consolidation study conducted by Patton Township as part of their addendum.

"We want to address the points of view of Patton Township, which differs with the points of view of the (Centre) regional committee," Montz said.