After a long holiday weekend in Albert Lea, District 27A Rep. Rich Murray talked with Gov. Mark Dayton Wednesday in a one-on-one conversation about how the state government shutdown is affecting Mower and Freeborn County residents.

Murray said the phone conversation lasted about 15 minutes and took place shortly after the governor’s meeting with House and Senate leadership. At the time, Dayton was frustrated that another budget proposal was rejected, Murray said.

“After talking with hundreds of people at the parade (in Albert Lea) and visiting with 40 or 50 people one-on-one, what I’m hearing is, ‘Get it fixed,’” Murray said. “They’re not worried about it being a tax increase or cuts. You guys have had enough time to get this done.”

Murray said he has met with people who have been laid off because of the shutdown.

“These people are stressed,” he said. “They’re not only stressed about themselves, but they’re stressed about the people they serve.”

“This is starting to hurt a whole bunch of people that I don’t think anyone intended to hurt,” he added. “The very people that the governor’s trying to protect are the ones that are being hurt.”

The representative said he stressed to Dayton the need for long-term structural reform, and the two talked about education and health and human services reform.

“There’s a number of areas we need to work on to make things work more efficiently,” Murray said.

He said the governor was receptive, and after the conversation Murray left a message for House Speaker Kurt Zellers, explaining how it went.

The state has been shut down for seven days as of Friday morning.