Although the Shenango Valley Intergovernmental Study Committee has released its final report on the four-year merger study among Farrell, Wheatland, Sharon, Sharpsville and Hermitage without making a recommendation, the issue was still a topic of discussion for Farrell council Monday.

Farrell Mayor William Morocco said a representative of the committee recently outlined the details of a possible merger between Sharon and Farrell.

The discussion is still in the nascent stage, Morocco said, and although he declined to give the name of the individual, he said the outline will be handed out to council and "once there's some mutual review of it in each community, we'll see if there's any desire for officials from Sharon and Farrell to meet."

"The Sharon/Farrell issue will be chewed on for some time," he said, adding that officials from the two cities haven't met to discuss a possible merger.

According to Morocco, voters can call for a consolidation under state law without the aid of an official governing body.

A percentage of the voters in each municipality can draw up a petition, go through a number of steps and it could eventually show up on the ballot.

And while consolidation may still be a viable option for Farrell, Morocco reiterated that the idea still has a way to go before it moves past the preliminary discussion phase.

"People should try to find out and come up with an answer to the question of 'Can the individual municipalities in the Shenango Valley continue to operate at whatever positive level they're operating at now and still find the revenue to do that within their municipalities?' '' he said, "or 'Would it be less expensive and somewhat better for the municipalities to join together, maybe combine some of that revenue, create new ventures and maintain others?' ''

Morocco said a possible merger between Sharon and Farrell could be viewed as a positive thing for people looking to do business or raise children in the valley.

"If we joined, the more attractive the overall municipality could be that businesses and/or families would want to remain here," he said.

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