Better Together, the advocacy group whose plan to consolidate St. Louis city and St. Louis County has roiled the region, has — at least temporarily — withdrawn its statewide petition to merge area governments.

Chris Pieper, an attorney for Better Together, sent a letter on Friday to the Missouri secretary of state withdrawing the petition on behalf of the advocacy group’s campaign, Unite STL.

Pieper said that the organization had been working on changes since it filed the petition last week and that all of the changes were technical, clarifying wording but not changing the substance of the plan.

“It’s where we are in the process,” Pieper said. “It frequently happens. I don’t think it is a setback.”

Pieper said the petition would be refiled on Monday.

But the withdrawal also represents a crack in the Better Together veneer, critics said: Either the plan wasn’t as polished as the organization had hoped, or hasn’t received the support it expected.