UPDATE: This event has been cancelled for the time being.

Sumner City Councillor Nancy Dumas will host a roundtable discussion on the intersection of community and government at the Old Cannery Furniture Warehouse next Thursday, May 17. It will be the first of an intended monthly forum to be held on the third Thursday of each month.

Dumas is initiating “The Table,” as she’s calling it, to solve the issue of minimal citizen dialogue in city meetings and “Council members leaving citizens feeling marginalized and unheard,” she said.

“Momentum was once stationary because it lay as an un-acted upon idea,” Dumas said. “The desired end result is that we set into motion a simple idea, which is to hear our residents and to get them talking to us and to each other.”

The forums will open with attendees being divided into tables discussing current events in rotating five minute increments. The meeting will then break for up to 10 minutes before reconvening for an open discussion session, no topic barred.

“The Table” will begin at 6:30 p.m. and is expected to last until 7:45 p.m.

The Old Cannery Furniture Warehouse is located at 13608-A Valey Ave. E. The meeting room is located upstairs.