HNA General Meeting – January 22, 2026 – Minutes
Trivia: What was the first grocery store on The Hill? Constelino’s.
Welcome back to Father Jack Siefert, who is doing great after recovering from heart surgery! Fr. Jack provided updates on St. Joan of Arc (SCCA) school’s permanent closing. He, Michelle Grellner, and Tina Hogan met with SCCA families, who expressed strong interest in St. Ambrose enrollment. St. Ambrose school is prioritizing re-enrollment of current students while working diligently to accommodate interested SCCA students. Enrollment at Ambrose remains strong. Fr. Jack additionally noted that Michelle Grellner will be leaving the principal position at the end of the 2025-2026 school year, with search updates forthcoming.
City Comptroller Donna Barringer gave an operational update, highlighting her office’s oversight of contracts, accounts payable/receivable, payroll, and finance functions. She described major progress in digitizing contracts, invoices, and payments, noting substantial reduction in contract and payment processing times and costs. She emphasized fraud, waste, and abuse prevention as a primary focus.
SLMPD lieutenant Anthony Aubuchon reported a 50% year-over-year crime reduction in District 2. He expressed optimism for increased police visibility in our neighborhood, noting a renewed emphasis on police academy enrollment, increased staffing, and pay improvements. Alderman Matt Devoti highlighted an upcoming ballot proposal to eliminate the city earnings tax (he opposes the elimination), progress toward a long-overdue revision of the St. Louis City charter, work toward improving the city’s severe water infrastructure deficiencies, and upcoming bridge/roadwork at Columbia and Southwest. He also emphasized the importance of the city’s zoning upgrade project (ZOUP), another long-overdue revision in city planning. He discussed new Southwest Garden sign placements, which have been appropriately rearranged to reflect neighborhood boundaries. Finally, he (jokingly) confirmed that the Hill is not annexing Southwest Garden!
Rep. Kimble reviewed legislative priorities affecting city residents. These include an upcoming bill that would allow the 22nd Judicial Circuit to appointment the St. Louis sheriff, which he supports. He discussed the effort to eliminate the Missouri state income tax, which he opposes, noting that this will likely result in increased sales tax disproportionately affecting lower-income residents.
Other updates included a notice about openings for application for Hill Business Association board members, planning for the June 28th Hill House Tour, continued HNA membership growth, and updated HNA financial statements, which are available at the Neighborhood Center.
