Highland Park Mayor Rotering delivers emotional speech in City Council's return.

Even while reading from a prepared statement, the weight of the words gutted Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering.

On Monday in Highland Park's first City Council meeting since June 27 - unless one counts an emergency meeting held within a half-hour after a gunman perched on a Central Avenue rooftop killed seven people and injured dozens more during the city's July 4 parade - the three-term mayor led it off with a passionate, 11-minute address.

Rotering struggled through a passage following a 20-second moment of silence after she cited those "we will continue to mourn for: Katherine Goldstein, Irina McCarthy, Kevin McCarthy, Jacquelyn Sundheim, Stephen Straus, Nicolas Toledo, Eduardo Uvaldo."

She remembered "these innocent victims," and praised Highland Park's police, fire, response team members and citizens "who ran into danger to save lives," Rotering said.

"They did not hesitate and they responded with courage as they sacrificed their own safety to help others."

She paused, sighed, and pressed on, near tears.

"Collectively, we experienced a violent event that will impact each of us in different ways and at different times," Rotering said in quavering voice as adjacent council members Tony Blumberg and Kim Stone each laid a consoling hand on the mayor's arms.

"Understandably, many of us are feeling a range of emotions, and none of us are alone in this process. We will encourage and lean on each other, finding the strength to move forward together as one community."

Shortly, Rotering composed herself, determined. Declaring action is needed to stem gun violence, she said, "As your mayor, as your neighbor, as a parent, as a child of this city, as a human being - I will not stop trying. We will not stop trying."

That message drew the first of several ovations in council chambers, seated or standing, which was the case when after the mayor's address City Manager Ghida Neukirch saluted Rotering's leadership.

Rotering noted President Joe Biden's call after the shooting, and his invitation for the mayor's presence during Biden's signing of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act on July 11.

She recalled her July 21 testimony urging federal bans on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, on Sen. Dick Durbin's invitation. Rotering said the hearing was titled "After the Highland Park Attack: Protecting our Communities from Mass Shootings."

It was the Judiciary Committee's 10th hearing on gun violence during this current 117th session of Congress, she said.

Rotering praised the bevy of officials who'd offered support or done heavy lifting in the hours and weeks since the shooting, including U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, Gov. J.B. Pritzker, state Sen. Julie Morrison and state Rep. Bob Morgan - who attended the meeting - and Highland Park Police Cmdr. Chris O'Neill and Chief Lou Jogmen, Fire Chief Joe Schrage and fellow city employees Neukirch, Amanda Civitello, Erin Jason, Ramesh Kanapareddy and Emily Taub.

At times Rotering's voice hardened in anger.

"It is important to note that in 2013, in the wake of Sandy Hook (the 2012 Connecticut elementary school shooting that killed 20 children and 6 adults), we sat on this dais and banned assault weapons and large-capacity magazines. We knew that a federal ban would be the most effective, but a local ban, reflecting the values of this community, was the only option available to us under the law," she said.

"Nothing has changed, and we need help from all levels of government. We need to pursue all options, and we need to continue to work to save lives right now," Rotering said.

After the mayor's speech, and public comment by a resident holding a portrait he created of Stephen Straus - among the portraits of all the deceased he offered the council before he moved from his suddenly painful home at 655 Central Ave. - it still seemed too soon for work to be done.

Nonetheless, Highland Park Finance Director Julie Logan outlined a 2022 budget amendment for a $500,000 Business Recovery Grant eligible to restaurants, retail and service businesses within the central business district that had to close July 4-10 during FBI operations.

Council members approved the ordinance, outlined beginning on page 480 of Monday's City Council agenda, with a 7-0 vote.