They came, they saw, they listened.

That sums up last Friday’s roundtable session between the Mower County Board of Commissioners and area legislators.

State Sen. Dan Sparks (DFL-District 27), state Rep. Jeanne Poppe (DFL-District 27B) and state Rep. Robin Brown (DFL-District 27A) were grilled Friday afternoon by the county officials on issues of mutual interest.

When the commissioners finished their questioning, it was other county elected officials’ turn to make demands upon the state legislators. Then, county department heads joined in the verbal free-for-all.

There’s a lot at stake in the 2009 legislative session; a huge state budget deficit makes all other issues shrink by comparison, especially if you’re a county commissioner worried the state is going to try to erase its $4.7 billion deficit and balance the state budget on the backs of local government.

Northland Securities analysts George Eilertson and Dan O’Neil discussed energy bond possibilities for funding the geothermal heating system in the new Mower County Jail and Justice Center.

Northland Securities was engaged by the county to offer advice on selling bonds to fund the $36 million jail and justice center project. Already, it has helped the county offer $10 million in lease revenue bonds to fund the court portion of the project.

Eilertson and O’Neil encouraged the area legislators to educate themselves about economic stimulus package monies coming to Minnesota from Congress. At least two separate funding sources for federal assistance in funding the geothermal project may be available.

Just like a federal stimulus package helped create massive housing projects in the 1960s, clean water projects in the 1970s and farm aid in the 1980s so, too, could the Obama Administration’s efforts to stimulate the sagging economy include helping fund clean energy projects like Mower County’s, Eilertson told the legislators.

“A project like we have in Mower County fits perfectly,” Eilertson said.

Dave Tollefson, 5th District county commissioner and chairman of the board, observed, “This is definitely something we have to keep on top of.”

Before they heard from local officials, the area legislators had an opportunity to tell all how the first three weeks of the 2009 legislative session came and went.

There was a common thread to their remarks.

“We’re going to face a real challenge this year in Minnesota,” Sparks said.

According to the senator, what he has been hearing is that the state “doesn’t want more governor or less government, but better government” to deal with the economic crisis.

Poppe echoed his remarks. “This is going to be a very difficult session,” she said.

Her advice: “This is the time people should be engaged in the process of addressing these problems we face.”

Brown said the state must “brace itself for some significant financial cuts. We can’t afford to live in a state of denial.”

Topping the list of county commissioner concerns was wind energy tax revenues.

The original formula called for counties to receive 80 percent of the tax revenues generated by wind energy companies within their borders and townships, 14 percent, and school districts, 6 percent.

It didn’t work that way.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty took the school districts’ 6 percent to help balance the budget.

Brown, whose husband, Joe, superintendent of the Grand Meadow Public School District, was one of the early champions of the 80-14-6 split of wind energy revenues, and said the legislators are going to work to reinstate the 6 percent for school districts.,

Craig Oscarson, county coordinator, said it was critical to leave the county’s 80 percent untouched.

“The county board has budgeted our $400,000 share of the wind energy revenues as a means of keeping our property tax levy down,” he said.

The trio of legislators said, to their knowledge, there has been no discussion of cutting the counties’ and townships’ share of the wind energy revenues, only reinstating the school districts’ shares.

The far-ranging discussion concluded with Mower County Auditor-Treasurer Doug Groh bringing his laundry list of issues and concerns to the legislators.

He prefaced his remarks by saying, “I believe there is too much government and too many layers of government.”

Obviously reacting to the continuing Franken-Coleman recount saga, now in the courts, Groh gave Sparks, Poppe and Brown a list of ways to improve the election process.

The first was requiring every county to implement an absentee ballot board to deal with any issues surrounding the voting process.

Groh told the legislators, “I’m starting to feel like elections are a full-time job.

“Last year’s elections started in June with training and it’s almost February the following year and it still isn’t done yet,” he said.

The legislators also heard an extensive discussion about criminal justice system woes, including the Minnesota Department of Corrections’ seemingly independent of legislative overview status.

Gerald Meier, an Adams resident, asked the legislators to “do what you can” about allowing jobs to be out-sourced overseas while laying off American workers.

Tollefson and Oscarson urged the legislators to support the Veterans Administration efforts to locate a veterans outreach clinic in Austin.