Current source roster
Tulsa County Court Clerk
Court Clerk
Observed in 2026
Current office verified; biography states service began January 1, 2017, exact oath record not retrieved.
People / Government & civic life
Don Newberry
Tulsa County Court Clerk
A countywide elected records officer whose work connects the courts, public access and county budgeting.
Don Newberry is Tulsa County’s elected Court Clerk. His office maintains District Court case records, handles specified licenses and registrations, collects statutory court charges and supports judicial operations. His public roles also extend to the Tulsa County Budget Board and INCOG. These are separate institutional responsibilities: the clerk’s administrative position and participation in collective boards do not give him a judge’s authority to decide cases.
Career & public service
- 1987–1996
Military service
Official biography reports Air Force service.
- 2010
County career
Official biography dates the start of county employment to 2010.
- January 2017
Court Clerk service begins
Account-signing authority became effective January 1; county minutes record his swearing-in on January 3.
- 2024
Sole candidate listed
Election Board filing report names Newberry alone for Court Clerk.
- January 6, 2025
Reported oath
Tulsa Today reports his swearing-in as returning clerk.
- February 17, 2026
Budget Board participation
Enclosed minutes record attendance and affirmative votes.
People, institutions and the relationships between them
Following the connections
Each step below represents a documented relationship. Dates and roles belong to the individual links; a path can span different periods.
officeTulsa County Court Clerk
personDon Newberry
public boardTulsa County Budget Board
The office edge is read in reverse; Budget Board membership is a separate relationship.
personDon Newberry
regional governmentINCOG
Named membership on the dated regional roster, without an inferred appointment date.
Documented relationships
3 documented relationships · Historical and current roles remain distinct.
Current source roster
Tulsa County Budget Board
Budget Board member
Observed in 2026
Attendance and votes observed February 17, 2026; exact membership start not asserted.
Current source roster
INCOG
INCOG board member
Observed in 2026
August 17, 2026 roster identifies Court Clerk; exact appointment dates not given.
A vote in county budgeting
February 17, 2026 Budget Board minutes enclosed in the March 16 packet list Newberry as present alongside other county officers. They record his affirmative votes on releasing General Fund reserves and providing additional Building Operations funding. Kelly Dunkerley presided; Michael Willis made the motions recorded for those decisions. The same meeting received a property-insurance forecast but requested and took no action on that presentation. These minutes demonstrate participation in specific collective decisions, not sole control over county expenditure or a complete attendance history.
Court revenue is institutional money
The official office description says the clerk collects statutory fines, fees and forfeitures. Part of these collections supports the office and courts, including juror and witness fees, public-defender salaries, transcripts and operating supplies; remaining money is sent to the State Judicial Fund. These receipts are public funds, not the clerk’s personal earnings. Oklahoma State University Extension describes the court clerk as a separate elected county officer. That distinction matters when a question concerns a case filing rather than a county-government or property record.
Military service, education and county work
Newberry’s official biography reports United States Air Force service from 1987 through 1996 and a later private-sector position as a mortgage-company vice president of sales. It does not name that employer or give employment dates. The biography lists an associate degree in business administration from Tulsa Community College, a psychology bachelor’s degree and MBA from Liberty University, and a master’s degree in Indian law from the University of Tulsa. Graduation dates are not supplied. These are attributed biographical statements; they do not establish current business ownership or an active professional license.
From the assessor’s office to elected clerk
According to the same biography, Newberry began county service in 2010 and worked on management, direction and budgeting in a department of the County Assessor’s office before becoming Court Clerk. It gives January 1, 2017 as the beginning of his clerk service. The biography describes efficiency improvements but provides no underlying performance measures, so those claims are not presented here as independently demonstrated outcomes. The published career account supports a transition from administrative county work to an independently elected office. Original county records distinguish the transition dates: a December 23, 2016 letter made his account-signing authority effective January 1, 2017, while the January 3 commissioners’ minutes record his swearing-in. The administrative effective date and the recorded ceremony are separate events.
Unopposed filing and a new term
The Election Board’s 2024 filing report lists Newberry as the only candidate for Court Clerk and identifies him as a Republican. This is a filing record, not a contested-election vote count. Tulsa Today reported that returning Court Clerk Donald Newberry was sworn in at the January 6, 2025 county commissioners meeting. The official office website continues to identify Don Newberry as clerk. Together, these records connect the 2024 filing cycle, the reported 2025 oath and the current officeholder without inventing a vote margin.
A regional board seat
INCOG’s roster dated August 17, 2026 identifies Newberry as a Tulsa County representative by his Court Clerk title. The roster also includes county commissioners and representatives from municipalities and tribal governments. This establishes a documented regional board connection alongside his courthouse duties. The roster does not give his appointment date or justify attributing every INCOG action to him personally.
An inherited audit response
The county audit for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2016 names Newberry as the contact for corrective responses concerning segregation of duties and reconciliation of the District Court Fund. That audit period predates the start of his clerk service stated in his official biography. The plan proposed additional independent checking of receipts and deposits, and continued reconciliation work, with a December 1, 2017 target. Naming him as the response contact establishes responsibility for the proposed response; it does not establish that he caused the earlier deficiencies or that the proposed fixes were completed.
Budget oversight and audit responses
The state auditor’s report for the year ended June 30, 2023 identified countywide deficiencies in budget amendments. Its recommendation called for the Budget Board to improve procedures for preparing, amending and adopting the budget. The Court Clerk’s response committed to working more closely with other board members; the report does not establish that the deficiencies were later corrected. A separate expenditure finding prompted the Court Clerk to distinguish his office from the court administrator and County Clerk’s fiscal office: his response said those offices handled the pass-through grant payments at issue. The response described plans to rename the Court Clerk Revolving Fund to avoid suggesting that it was a Court Clerk matter. These are management responses, on which the auditor expressly provided no opinion, rather than independently verified remediation results.
Check the record
Sources & corrections
Research checked 2026-10-07. Roles and financial figures retain their source dates. Sections appear only when supported material is available; an omitted section is not a finding that no such relationship exists.
- Oklahoma State University — duties of elected county officials ↗
primary · Checked 2026-10-05
Board of County Commissioners section: majority board action, property, bids, roads, budget-board distinction, excise-board authority.
- INCOG board of directors ↗
primary · Source date 2026-08-17 · Checked 2026-10-06
Tulsa County — Lonnie Sims; roster dated August 17, 2026
- Tulsa County Budget Board — March 16, 2026 packet, enclosed February 17 minutes ↗
official-record · Source date 2026-03-16 · Checked 2026-10-06
PDF page 2: attendance/chair and item V.B; enclosed minutes, not evidence of subsequent approval. Insurance presentation explicitly records no action requested or taken.
- Tulsa County Court Clerk — official office ↗
primary · Checked 2026-10-06
About the County Court Clerk: records, licensing, collections and judicial support. Current named officeholder.
- Tulsa County Court Clerk — Don Newberry biography ↗
primary · Checked 2026-10-06
Self-published official biography; military dates, degrees, county work and stated January 1, 2017 entry into office. Exact degree and employer dates not supplied.
- Tulsa County Election Board — 2024 candidate filings ↗
primary · Source date 2024-08-13 · Checked 2026-10-06
One-page MESA report generated August 13, 2024; April 3–5 filing period: Newberry sole Republican listed for Court Clerk. Filing list, not certified vote totals.
- Tulsa Today — county officials sworn in ↗
independent-reporting · Source date 2025-01-06 · Checked 2026-10-06
David Arnett, opening paragraph; identifies returning Court Clerk Donald Newberry. Reported oath, not original oath document.
- Oklahoma State Auditor — Tulsa County FY2016 audit corrective-action plan ↗
primary · Checked 2026-10-06
PDF pages 24–25, printed pages 15–16: findings 2016-8 and 2016-9, Newberry contact, planned corrective action and December 1, 2017 target. Audit period predates stated clerk tenure. No financial amount reproduced.
- Tulsa County commissioners — January 3, 2017 minutes ↗
primary · Source date 2017-01-03 · Checked 2026-10-07
Page1, opening: Newberry swearing-in announced.
- Court Clerk — December 23, 2016 transition letter ↗
primary · Source date 2016-12-23 · Checked 2026-10-07
Page1: authorized signers effective January1,2017; Donald F. Newberry Jr. identified as Court Clerk. No account numbers reproduced.
- Tulsa County FY2023 internal-control report ↗
primary · Source date 2024-11-27 · Checked 2026-10-07
PDF pages5,11–12,16–17 (printed3,9–10,14–15): report limits, Court Clerk responses and finding2023-012. Fiscal year endedJune30,2023; no amounts reproduced.