Even if the St. Louis County Council succeeds in removing County Executive Steve Stenger from office, as it is proposing, Stenger would still be slated to become the first mayor of the merged metropolitan St. Louis, according to area municipal attorneys.

Advocacy group Better Together has petitioned the state to merge St. Louis, St. Louis County and all 88 county municipalities by a statewide vote. Its proposal, which is now moving through the state’s initiative petition process, identifies the initial mayor of the new metropolitan city as the “person duly serving as county executive” on January 1, 2019.

Better Together attempted to clarify such an appointment when it edited its amendment and resubmitted it to the state. It added a sentence declaring a vacancy in office “in the event of death, resignation, or inability to serve.”

But that does not, it seems, include removal from office.