ORANGE PARK – Courtney Russo prefers talking about anything but herself.

After serving as an administrative assistant for the Town of Orange Park, Russo was recently promoted to town clerk where she took over from former Town Clerk Sarah Campbell who is now city manager.

“Oh my gosh, I don’t like to talk about myself,” Russo said with a laugh. “I would say I’m a mom, I work at town hall as the town clerk and I like to meet new people, and I’ve been told that I’m really chipper.”

And while Russo is still settling into her new role, town residents likewise will need to acquaint themselves with the town’s new resident recorder and public face.

Russo has lived nearly all of her life in Orange Park and her seven-year-old son Gavin attends Orange Park Elementary. Although now an antiquated term, Russo describes herself as a tomboy as a child who was more inclined to prowl forests with neighborhood kids for precious hours of unsupervised merriment until dusk.

She aspired to be a veterinarian as a child, but eventually decided on nursing school. Before taking her core classes at Florida Southern University, however, she enrolled in difficult courses her first year such as trigonometry. Eventually, she fell into English courses.

Her commutes often resembled frenzied rushes for Russo, a single mother who worked at a daycare in Jacksonville. She traversed the Buckman Bridge after dropping her son off at school in Orange Park on school days.

When the position opened up for an administrative assistant for the Town of Orange Park just under two years ago, she hopped on the opportunity.

“I always kept my eye on Orange Park, because, you know, its government, it’s a decent job. I was checking their website and just happened to see that they had an admin assistant, and I said, hey, why not,” she said. “The rest is history. To be honest I was just looking for a place close to home so that I can drop my kid off at school and still make it to work on time.

“I never knew I would be where I am now. To be honest, it’s been a great opportunity.”

In her new role, Russo serves as secretary to the town council, which involves capturing the minutes of each council meeting, as well as council committee meetings. The town clerk also transcribes council meeting minutes for approval each month and works with the council and town manager to set the council agenda.