12/10/10 Marshall County residents will have a chance to talk to their legislators this weekend as the Marshall County Commissioners will host Representatives and Senators from the county for a question and answer session.
Beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Commissioners Meeting Room on the second floor of the Marshall County Building, State Representatives Nancy Dembowski and Bill Friend, along with State Senators Ed Charbonneau and Ryan Mishler will be available to talk to constituents about the upcoming session. They will be listening to voters’ concerns and providing information on the work facing them in the new Assembly in January.
“For me anytime I can get out and talk to constituents I’m going to do that,” said Charbonneau of Saturday’s gathering. “I think it’s very important to share perspectives with the people I represent and we have some very difficult decisions ahead and one of them is going to be coming up with a realistic budget.”
Dembowski agreed and added another issue she feels is going to be key in the coming session.
“My guess is that (Saturday) we’re going to hear a lot about jobs,” she said. “Anything we can do to bring jobs to the state is going to be big on people’s minds.”
“Job creation is going to be right at the top of the agenda,” added Charbonneau. “And how we deal with education. Anytime you have anything that takes up 50 percent of your budget it’s going to be a major issue. As a new Senator I haven’t been a part of many budgets but some of the people I’ve been working with who’ve been here for a long time say this may be the most difficult budget they’ve ever worked on.”
“I think for Saturday I’m going to approach things a little differently,” said Dembowski. “I’m really interested in hearing from the constituents what they want to see us do. Realistically I don’t think there’s any way we’re going to be able to solve all the problems we have by April, but when we are done what would the voters think was a successful session?”
The public is encouraged to come and listen to their legislators and ask questions and comment on their concerns. The event begins at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Commissioner’s meeting room on the second floor of the County Building.
The Pilot News contributed to this story.
