FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Gov. Steve Beshear is planning a series of town hall meetings across Kentucky in an effort to regroup from a rocky start as the state’s top-elected official.

Beshear Chief of Staff Adam Edelen said the town hall meetings are intended to help the administration retool its agenda in the wake of uncertain economic times and a rough first go-around with the General Assembly this spring.

“The governor is going to talk about where we are, how we got to where we are and the challenges that exist before us,” Edelen told the Lexington Herald-Leader. “And we’ll be talking about some of his ideas for going forward. But broadly this also is a listening tour.”

Beshear will seek Kentuckians’ input about steps the state should take to improve in areas of education, health care, economic development and infrastructure, Edelen said.

But Edelen said the Democratic governor probably won’t talk much about specific ways state government can raise more money even though the state is struggling to pay for existing services, such as public defenders, incarcerating criminals and public employees’ pensions.

Beshear has been unable to deliver on his campaign pledge to shepherd through the legislature a constitutional amendment allowing casino gambling, which he said could have produced several hundred million dollars in additional state revenue.

The governor also was unsuccessful in his push to increase the cigarette tax from 30 cents to $1 a pack.

Edelen said Beshear will use the town hall meetings to establish goals for the state and to chart a course to achieve them.

Former Democratic Gov. Julian Carroll, now a state senator from Frankfort, said he’d encourage Beshear to use the town hall meetings to detail the fragility of the state’s finances. The state faces a projected $900 million shortfall in tax revenues over the next two years.

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