Don O’Shell was elected on November 4, 2003 and was sworn in as the 50th York
County Clerk of Courts on January 5, 2004. Don was re-elected on November 6, 2007 and was sworn in for
a second term on January 7, 2008. Don was re-elected
for a third term on November 8, 2011 and will be
sworn in on January 3, 2012.
Education
Don graduated from Red Lion Christian School in
1988, attended Bob Jones University and later graduated in 1992 from York College
of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts in Public
Administration. In August 2009 Don graduated from Penn State University
- Middletown, PA campus with a Masters degree in Public Administration.
Military Service
In June of 1994,
Don enlisted in the Pennsylvania Air National Guard
as a member of the 193d Special Operations Wing
based at Harrisburg International Airport in
Middletown, PA. He served as a
personnel clerk before being commissioned in August
of 1997 as a second lieutenant.
Today Don serves at the rank of Major/O-4 as the Wing's director of Equal Opportunity enforcing Air Force/ National
Guard Bureau equal opportunity policy through base
training, statistical reports and complaint
processing to ensure unit cohesion and mission
readiness for over 1,800 unit members.
In addition Don works an additional duty as a United
States Air Force Academy Admissions Liaison
Officer. The Admissions Liaison Officer (ALO)
program is an organization of Air Force
representatives who identify, advise, recruit,
mentor and evaluate candidates for the US Air Force
Academy (USAFA) and applicants for Air Force Reserve
Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) scholarship
programs. ALOs also serve as Air Force team
recruiters, directing individuals to Non-Prior
Service (NPS), AF Reserve, and Air National Guard
recruiters. Approximately 1,600 ALOs serve in all
50 states and around the world.
Legislative
Service
From 1995 to 1997, Don worked as a
legislative assistant to State Representative Stan
Saylor focusing on constituent service and
legislation. Just prior to his election as Clerk of
Courts, Don served as chief of staff to
State Representative Keith Gillespie.
Administrative
Experience
In 1998, Don joined the Pennsylvania
Department of Transportation as a staff assistant to
the Driver License Division manager. Later that year
he was promoted to the position of Photo License
Manager where he was responsible for the 98 Photo
License Centers throughout Pennsylvania. During his
tenure Don played a
key role in assuring
the Photo License system was Y2K compliant and was
named a member of the PennDOT Star of Excellence Y2K
team. Don also oversaw build-outs of five Photo
License Centers and renewed over 40 leases ensuring
fair market price for rent and common area
maintenance saving the Commonwealth a total of $1.4
million over the lease periods. In addition Don
coordinated PennDOT’s transition to a new photo
license vendor from developing the Request for
Proposal (RFP) to selecting the successful vendor
resulting in a more durable and secure driver
license product for millions of Pennsylvania
drivers.
In 2000, Don joined the Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection as the agency’s assistant
director of legislative affairs. In that position,
he promoted the environmental legislative agenda of
Governors Ridge and Schweiker, addressed constituent
concerns for both federal and state legislators, and
worked to improve overall department operations and
was recognized by Governor Schweiker with a Team
Innovation Award in 2002 for his work on the
Electronic Legislative Analysis Team – an
application designed to track the status of
legislation and the administration’s positions.
In November of 2001, Don was elected to serve
on Red Lion Borough Council and served from
2002-2004 just prior to taking office as Clerk of
Courts. While on borough council, Don
focused on Planning, Zoning and Redevelopment issues
to include a downtown streetscape improvement
program and Keystone Opportunity Zones.
Don also worked for inter-municipal
cooperation via the formation of the York Area
Council of Governments (YACOG) composed of twelve
area municipalities and the County of York.
Professional Memberships & Accomplishments
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President,
YORK COUNTY CEREBRAL PALSY HOME, INC.
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Member,
Margaret E. Moul Home Board of Directors
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Member, York
County Criminal Justice Advisory Board
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Member,
Restitution in
Pennsylvania Taskforce |
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Member,
Domestic Violence Task Force of York County
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Member, Humane
Society Police Officer Advisory Board |
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Volunteer -
Junior Achievement of South Central
Pennsylvania |
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Republican
Committeeman – Springettsbury Township 2nd
Precinct
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Alternate
Delegate Republican National Convention 2004
& 1996
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Member,
National Guard Association of the United
States
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Member, PA
National Guard Association
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Member, Phi
Alpha – Public Administration Honors Society
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