Ashanti Austin serves as the Chief of Administration. In her role, she provides oversight for all administrative functions within the Executive Office of the Clerk, including communications, support services, and data analytics.

Austin began her career as a second-generation clerk employee at the age of 14 years old. After fulfilling the high school community service hour requirement at the Putnam County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller’s Office, Austin began working as a Student Page Clerk. As the youngest person employed by the office, she became familiar with Florida’s Public Record Laws in this role, responsible for public records requests on criminal traffic, misdemeanor, felony, and civil traffic cases. Sworn in as Criminal Deputy Clerk on her 18th birthday, Austin became a full-time employee upon graduation from Crescent City High School.

Following employment in Putnam County, Austin became a court clerk at the St. Johns County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller’s Office. Austin worked in both the criminal and family law departments, attending both circuit and county court proceedings before being promoted to supervisor. As a supervisor, she provided oversight to the Traffic and Jury Management Department before a shift back to Family Law to meet organizational needs. Austin then transitioned into the role of Special Assistant to the Clerk within the Executive Office of the Clerk.

After nine years of experience within the Clerk’s office, Austin joined the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners in October 2021 as Assistant to the Deputy County Administrator. While in this role, Austin provided executive-level support level support to the Deputy County Administrator and Assistant County Administrator, supporting 12 county departments.

Austin was recently selected for the Direct Commission Officer Program with the United States Navy Reserve.

Austin is a lifelong resident of Florida, raised in Crescent City. During high school dual enrollment, Austin completed her associate in arts degree at St. Johns River State College. She then earned a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Flagler College. Currently enrolled in the Public Policy Institute at Jacksonville University, Austin is pursuing a master’s degree in public policy.

Mark Miner is the chief deputy clerk at the St. Johns County Clerk of the Circuit Court and County Comptroller’s office. In this role, he is responsible for the overall operation of the office and leads a team of over 100 highly dedicated public servants. He oversees human resources, technology, public information, finance, legal, court operations, recording, minutes & records, and risk management.

He previously served as the chairman of the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners where he oversaw a $744 million budget and 1,100 employees.  As a commissioner, he served as the chair of the Public Safety Coordinating Council and on the boards of the Northeast Florida Transportation Planning Organization, the Northeast Florida Regional Transportation Study Commission, the St. Johns County Industrial Development Authority, and the Recreation Advisory Board.

Miner has championed local laws protecting our children, such as the Kid Safe Zone Ordinance, which bans sex offenders and sexual predators from handing out candy on Halloween, wearing costumes on holidays, and loitering around children.  He has worked with our first responders to ensure that our law enforcement and fire rescue personnel have the tools and resources they need to keep our communities safe and was instrumental in upgrading St. Johns County’s emergency communications system for our first responders.

In 2016, Florida Governor Rick Scott appointed Miner to the board of the St. Augustine Northeast Florida Regional Airport.

In the private sector, Miner worked as a manager for CSX where he earned the CSX Chairman’s Award of Excellence, CSX’s highest employee honor. He ran a financial services practice for Edward D. Jones & Co., L.P., in northern St. Augustine where he worked with over 300 families and businesses and subsequently has worked as a wealth manager focusing on risk management.

Miner has been a member of the Florida Army National Guard since 2002 and continues to serve today as a traditional part-time guardsman.  He currently serves as the battalion aviation safety officer for the 2-111^th Aviation Regiment and concurrently serves as a standardization instructor pilot, instrument flight examiner, and functional check pilot in the UH-72 Lakota.

He has served as a Pilot-in-Command, Air Mission Commander, Aviation Maintenance Officer, and Platoon Leader. He has completed two deployments to the U.S. border with Mexico as a member of Joint Task Force Southwest Border (JTF-SWB), has participated in aviation recovery operations throughout Florida during Hurricanes Mathew, Irma, Michael, and Dorian, and has flown hundreds of missions in direct support of law enforcement as a member of the Florida Army National Guard’s Counterdrug Aerial Reconnaissance Team (CD-ART).  Before becoming an Army Aviator Miner was an Infantry non-commissioned officer and is a two-time veteran of Operation Iraq Freedom where he earned the Combat Infantry Badge.

In the community, Miner has served as the campaign chair for the United Way of St. Johns County and was its board president. He served as secretary of the board of directors for the Early Learning Coalition of North Florida and on the board of Home Again St. Johns.  He has been a member of the St. Johns County Veterans Council, the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the St. Augustine Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, and the St. Augustine Rotary Club.

Miner lives in St. Augustine with his wife Cheryl and their three young children, Mark, Bennett, and Molly. Miner and his wife went to Bartram Trail High School. Cheryl graduated from Flagler College and Miner earned his bachelor’s in business administration from the Florida Institute of Technology and his master of science in financial planning from the College for Financial Planning. In 2020 he was accepted into the executive MBA program at the University of Florida.  He holds FAA commercial and instrument airplane and helicopter ratings.