A group of aldermen and city officials has drafted a resolution restating the council's desire to keep the college in Norwich, emphasizing the city's willingness to work with the state on finding the right location.

The group is still working on the language. Council members will consider it at their agenda-setting meeting Monday.

Most of the city council favors campus consolidation at a Thames Valley site off New London Turnpike; Alderwoman Sofee Noblick, who had been uncertain of the right location, said Friday she supported Thames Valley, saying the issues the college faced on Mahan Drive were easier to control.

Michael Lahan, a local attorney who helped draft the resolution, said the document does not commit the council to one location.

"There's a mention of the site, because there's mentions of potential sites," Lahan said. "But it is not an endorsement of any site."

The council's July 7 resolution opposed the consolidation of the college at Mahan Drive, due to concerns about traffic and flooding. That resolution said the council wanted to work with the governor to find the most suitable location for the college. The new one, drafters say, would clarify the council's intent to hold onto Three Rivers.

"I'm committed to keeping it in Norwich, and I'm optimistic we can collectively and collaboratively work to draw closure to this," alderman Ben Lathrop said.

Officials in Gov. John G. Rowland's office warned that passage of the resolution would force him to look for consolidation sites outside the city. Groton, East Lyme, Preston, Sprague and Plainfield have all expressed interest in Three Rivers. Lahan and Lathrop said the resolution was aimed at those towns and others that may seek to snare Three Rivers.

"I hope it does something to dampen that," Lahan said. "You're still going to have agitation in that regard. Once the governor said it's going to be in Norwich (several years ago), you saw other towns backing off, because the decision was made."

Since Mohegan and Thames Valley Community Colleges merged in 1992, a number of plans on the physical consolidation of the buildings have come and gone. The current facilities, built in the '50s and '60s, are dated and ill-equipped for college classes. There were 3,529 full-time equivalent students enrolled in the fall 2002 semester.

Norwich's legislative delegation supports the effort to make the Thames Valley campus the preferred site.

State Sen. Edith Prague, D-Columbia, has endorsed the Thames Valley campus proposal since the council's decision to oppose consolidation on Mahan Drive. "If you want to keep Three Rivers in Norwich, that seems to be the best option," Prague said Friday. "

Norwich's two state representatives, Democrats Jack Malone and Melissa Olson, both said they would support whatever decision the council deems best for the city and the school.

"I'm not going to go against the wishes of the council," said Malone, who has long supported a downtown site for the school. "If they think that is the best choice, I'll support them."

Olson said she discussed the issue with neighbors of the Thames Valley campus, and was pleased with their "reasonable response."

"The consensus seems to be that as long as get that access road off Route 32, and we address a couple of other traffic concerns, that's acceptable to them," she said. "I'm thrilled by the overall feeling among the neighbors that keeping the college in Norwich is important."

That's Lathrop's feeling, too.

"Our intent wasn't to lose it to any other towns," he said. "The college settled in Norwich many, many years ago."