Plans for a town hall style meeting led by Port Orchard Mayor Tim Matthes are moving forward, with an anticipated first meeting scheduled for mid-September.

Matthes plans to hold at least two open-forum town halls starting in September when kids go back to school. He originally set a meeting date for this summer, but said attendance would be better once residents returned from summer vacations and time away from work.

Matthes intends to hold the meetings at city hall in a roundtable discussion format, letting citizens ask questions on every subject or air their grievances about the city.

“I’m a glutton for punishment,” Matthes said.

Matthes said he did several question-and-answer type forums when he ran for Kitsap County Commissioner against Charlotte Garrido in 2008. As many as 80 people showed up to the events, with Matthes not always knowing answers to the questions asked. He said the same thing might happen during the town hall forum.

“If I don’t know something, I will try to find the answers and get back to them,” he said.

Matthes saw little support from the Port Orchard City Council when he first proposed the idea of town hall meetings in June. One or two city employees will be on hand to help with the technical aspects such as sound and microphone equipment. The meetings will be available to watch online the next day on the city’s website.

Matthes said he will post the time and date on the city website and notify the Port Orchard Independent when he’s sure on the exact date.