Springfield Remanufacturing Corporation has been one of the city's most successful enterprises but Chief Executive Officers Jack Stack says even he is having trouble getting access to the capital necessary to grow.

“It is unbelievably tough. The game has changed radically,” said Stack.

A day after his Department of Economic Development director abruptly resigned, Nixon was here on the rebound, ready to hear ideas.

“We are at a very crucial juncture this next 30 days to deal with the budget next year,” said Nixon.

Nixon is considering pushing for a bond initiative for 2010 that would help finance hundreds of millions of dollars in capital building projects.

“I think there would be bipartisan support for a bond issue that would include capital projects,” he said.

But, around the table, leaders from SRC, John Deere, Digital Monitoring Products and others also urged the governor to invest in companies that are already growing -- in essence to expand and provide incentives for what's working.

“For two and half decades, we've not been able to articulate a statewide business expansion program,” said Greg Williams, senior vice president of economic development for the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.

“If you have a track record going 5 to 10 percent a year for the last couple of years, you should be in the category to be able to access some credit, deal with debt, maybe even some tax deferral system,” said Stack.

Stack even suggests Nixon put aside a large capital improvements plan.

“In terms of capital improvements of assets and things of its nature, I think you got to put that on hold for awhile,” he said.

With rapidly declining revenues, Nixon knows making the right investment also means acknowledging he can't make every investment.

“Everything's on the table when you face a budget challenge the way we do,” the governor said.

Nixon made no commitments on a big bond issue proposal yet. He says he wants to meet with legislative leaders first. He also said he's unlikely to call a special session to deal with a request to help struggling dairy farmers.

For more coverage of the brainstorming session, head to the Ky3 Political Notebook.

Follow Dave Catanese on TWITTER HERE.