On Jan. 27, the Northwest Austin Coalition will host the first forum for candidates running for Travis County judge and county commissioner in Precinct 2.

The forum is open to the public and is held at the Spicewood Springs Library Branch from 6:30–8:30 p.m. Candidates for County Judge—Andy Brown and Sarah Eckhardt—and candidates for county commissioner—Garry Brown, Richard Jung, and Brigid Shea—will be present for a question-and-answer session, and to discuss concerns such as water, transportation, public safety, affordability and wildfires. The event is moderated by Traci Rodriguez, Austin Metro publisher of Community Impact Newspaper.

"My hope is that the residents of Northwest Austin will get more direct access to our future elected officials that really speak to the issues that we face in this part of town," said Jimmy Flannigan, organizer of NWAC. "The [fact that this] is the first ever forum focused specifically on Northwest Austin, I think is a glaring omission in our local politics. It's going to be an exciting time to see how the residents of Northwest Austin will be able to have their voices heard and their concerns addressed by these potential future officials."

NWAC is a nonpartisan group that was formed in April 2013 to give Northwest Austin residents representation during the city of Austin's redistricting process. The group was the first in the city to submit recommended maps to the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission—the organization charged with creating the final redistricting map.

The group meets to support leaders in Northwest Austin and address needs and concerns of local communities through collaboration and education, according to NWAC. The group does not have formal membership, and anyone who is interested in being a part of NWAC is encouraged to attend meetings, Flannigan said. To sign up for NWAC's newsletter, visit the website.

The Jan. 27 forum is the first of many that NWAC hopes to host during the months leading up to the November elections, he said.

"Doing this primary forum is a great test case of how we can engage our neighbors up in Northwest Austin," Flannigan said. "We're going to do forums all the way through November, I'm sure. We're a non-partisan group, so we are going to do forums with Republicans and Democrats."

For more information about NWAC and the forum, visit www.nwaustin.org or call 512-593-1010.