1. Whenever the construction and maintenance of a common outlet or channel or of a system of drains or sewers for the drainage of any area in the state of Missouri shall become necessary to secure proper sanitary conditions for the preservation of the public health, if such area shall lie in part within and in part without the corporate limits of any city having a population of three hundred thousand or more, said area may be established and incorporated as a sanitary district under this chapter in the manner following, to wit: The mayor and assembly of the city or the county commission of the county within whose limits any part of such area may lie, or in case the area is situated in part in a city authorized to perform all the functions of a county and part in a county, both the mayor and assembly and the county commission may petition the circuit court or courts having jurisdiction for the appointment of commissioners as herein provided, and to take such further action as may be necessary to the submission to the legal voters resident in such area, of the question whether such area shall be organized and incorporated as a sanitary district under this chapter.

2. Such petition or petitions, which may be in the form of an ordinance of the city or order of the county commission, shall set forth a description in general terms of the territory to be embraced in, and suggest a name for, the proposed sanitary district.