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Posted at: 10/15/2009 10:44 PM Towns Ready to Impress on Legislative Tour(ABC 6 NEWS) -- The House Capital Investment Committee, has a tough job ahead of them as they pick projects in Southern Minnesota to fund. But with less money, there's more demand and less supply. With more than $3-billion in requests for the 2010 Legislative Session and only $1-billion to spend, communities must try and make their projects stand out above the rest. So, what are towns doing to impress on this year's tour? In Mantorville, a tour bus full of state lawmakers was greeted by Civil War re-enactors, ready to make their case. "It's more memorable for them; and for those of us who believe that when you're 55 and can dress up and play soldier life, is good...it's a hoot!" says reenactor Michael Eckers. It's the last stop on day one of a two-day tour in Southeast Minnesota and the community hopes their pitch will grant them money for the Dodge County Stage Coach Trail. "When they come here they get to see the number of people behind us... they're all here because we know the trail is going be a great thing in the future,” says Grumpy Sells, the Vice President of Dodge County Trails. The tour shines a light on deserving communities that need help during a unique economic situation. "With high unemployment we are saying 'what kind of jobs can we fund, what kinds of projects can we fund that put people to work immediately?" says Representative Hausman. And towns all across Southeast Minnesota are hoping their projects fit the bill. Austin needs money to clean up the tornado damage and Albert Lea wants to create more affordable housing. "The people that we serve are typically the elderly, disabled families in our community, the working poor so for those families in an economic sense it's extremely important to provide them with a safe, quality, affordable housing,” says John Ford, Executive Director of the Albert Lea HRA. But with bids coming in at a third of the standard rate, the economy may work in the committee's favor says Representative Hausman, “The taxpayer dollar can go further this year. It's one tiny plus in a bad economic time." And in a bad economy, every ounce of creativity helps. Friday morning the tour will head out for day two, listening to presentations in Rochester, Chatfield, and Winona.
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