Better Together has long said that its proposal made such sweeping changes — consolidating courts and police departments, for instance — that it required an amendment to the Missouri Constitution and a statewide vote.

But many residents and municipal officials considered that component a deliberate scheme to overpower local voters. Even Better Together board members raised the issue.

“Essentially, I think it’s time to pause, to think about the process going forward,” board member Will Ross, associate dean for diversity at Washington University School of Medicine, told the Post-Dispatch before a Better Together board meeting last week. “The process of unification is so important, we just don’t want to do this wrong. It’s becoming too divisive.”

The Better Together board met Wednesday. Spokesman Ed Rhode said nothing newsworthy happened. But Ross said before the meeting that he would present his concerns to members, predicting not all would be happy to hear them. Afterward, Ross said there would indeed be “major new developments” in the merger initiative, though he wasn’t sure if it was “real, systemic change.” He declined to further discuss the matter.

No consensus

Others told the Post-Dispatch of their concerns last week, too.