A Coventry legislator who thinks the time has come to streamline local government wants to create a super town that would merge five and a half communities — Exeter, Foster, Glocester, Scituate, West Greenwich and the western end of Coventry.

State Rep. Nicholas Gorham, R-Coventry, proposes that the town be called Westconnaug, the name of a reservoir in Foster. Gorham yesterday submitted a draft of a bill that would create the town to the Joint Committee of Legislative Services, which prepares bills to be introduced in the General Assembly.

“The present towns of western Rhode Island were created in a time when travel was by horse and limited areas could be served by town government. Those days are past,” Gorham said. “There has been a lot of talk of regionalization. We should be looking to consolidate government. I thought it was time to do something and show that it could be done and put forth a plan to regionalize similar parts of the state.”

The town would pull together a large swath of a rural area where roughly 48,000 people live. It would include only the part of Coventry that sits west of Hammet Road and goes to the Connecticut border, the same area that is served by the Western Coventry Fire District. Why cut Coventry in half? Gorham says the western side, where he lives, shares the same rural characteristics of the other towns he included.

Under Gorham’s proposal, Westconnaug would be governed by a seven-member town council and an appointed town administrator. The council would also appoint a five-member school committee. There would be one superintendent for the town’s school district, which would serve roughly 8,400 students — smaller than Cranston’s enrollment but larger than Woonsocket’s.

While Gorham proposes one police department for the town, he would keep fire and rescue services the way they are now: mostly volunteer operations.

Acknowledging that there are plenty of details to be ironed out, Gorham said he wanted to get a dialogue started about how to modernize and create efficiencies in local government.

The concept evolved from an idea Gorham had two years ago to establish a state rural conservation district in the western part of Rhode Island. The rural district would have encompassed all of Foster and parts of Hopkinton, Richmond, West Greenwich, Exeter and Coventry.

In the new conservation district, there would be a minimum of five-acre house lots as a way to prevent excessive development. It would have preserved 60 percent of the land as open space and exempted a portion from some state mandates. While some of the towns embraced the idea; Richmond and Hopkinton said no to the plan last year and the bill died in committee.

Disappointed by the lack of interest, Gorham said he “started to realize it might even be more meritorious to make one town in the western part of the state.”

“This was the next logical step, to have one town for the entire area, [to have] one police department, one town clerk, one public works,” Gorham said yesterday. “Maybe we don’t need all this government. I’m serious about the idea and I think people should examine it carefully.”

Gorham says consolidation would bring savings, reduce property taxes and improve government services.

The Coventry legislator’s idea stunned leaders in the towns that would be affected, none of whom had heard anything about it. Some voiced skepticism over whether it could provide the promised savings. Others agreed that it was time to think of new ways to save property tax dollars.

“Instead of being in a fantasy world, [Gorham] should try to come up with something that is more realistic for the towns in the northwest part of the state,” Glocester Town Council President Steven A. Sette said yesterday.

Sette said he would support a plan that pushed for regionalizing school systems and consolidating police departments, but he was not convinced that residents would (or should) be willing to part with local government representation.

“I give him credit for not standing pat. Everybody has to start looking at creative solutions, but we would have a hard time supporting it, as wide sweeping as it is,” Sette said.

Foster Town Council President Colette Matarese questioned whether Gorham’s proposal could improve the quality of municipal services.

She noted that among the six towns, there is a disparity in the range of services offered. And because some are in the state’s “snow belt,” she wondered if one public works department could really clear roads in a snowstorm faster than many.

Coventry Town Councilman Frank Hyde said he would have to see more information first.

“How is Coventry going to benefit from that? It would seem to me that they would pay more in municipal services,” Hyde said. “I’m open to suggestions, if he wants to bring it to the council.”

Rep. Kevin A. Breene, one of Gorham’s fellow Republicans, who also serves as the town manager in West Greenwich, said he recognizes what is at stake, but it’s hard enough to bring two towns together, let alone five.

“I understand his theory and reasoning,” Breene said. “Obviously when you have five towns that have been incorporated since the 1700s, they have their own identity. It would be tough to make them one big town. But if we can do something collectively as a group to save money…that would be helpful.”

— With reports from Journal Staff Writer Philip Marcelo

lsparks@projo.com