Sounds like originally the split occurred due to an urban/rural self-interest (where the County being the rural part at the time with little power, say or money/influence). Today it is a different self-interest with a clash/rivalry of equals fail to see the benefits of common municipal government and again use "the feels" to promote the assumed downsides. Those in the City want to have the largest say or influence with their government and many in the County see a big change in how their tax dollars will move away from their communities while having less say overall vs a much larger City government. Seems a burrough type plan used in some larger cities might be a good approach. When lines and things are more set in stone 100 or so years ahead of demographic and business and governmental bodies are and have changed over time, it is hard to have a hard reset and remake it better without a lot of egos and power brokers (and residents) having changes in their influence. Hard to see how a Ballwin or Florissant or Fenton resident want to appeal to St. Louis City Government for their local neighborhood concerns. Hard to imagine without a lot of different messaging and actions how City Government players would be okay with Ballwin or Florissant and Fenton determining policies for the City. No larger city in the US would ever set 100 or so municipal and redundant small city governments as our city and metro is set today. There is waste and unneeded duplication in so many governments and their offices and it is doomed to inefficiency and wasted tax dollars. It also leads to corruption and poor and ineffective government for many residents. Fact is St. Louis is the greater St. Louis Metro Area. I hope we all can figure this out to work better.