As Register of Wills, Byron’s top priority has been to provide Howard County families with professional, efficient, compassionate service when they’ve lost a loved one. He understands the challenges we face coping with loss and the emotional upheaval it causes. That’s why he’s hired and trained a diverse team of experienced and understanding staff members who come to work every day with the goal of making the probate process as quick and easy as possible.

Under Byron’s leadership, the office of Register of Wills has become known for being responsive to people’s needs and focused on creating a supportive and reassuring environment for those who need help. When you call or visit the office, you speak with a staff member directly with no appointment necessary. Every staff member is also available by email, and responds or calls promptly.  The staff don’t hurry to usher people out the door or finish phone calls, they walk family members through the probate process step by step and try to make what can feel like an overwhelming system relatively simple and manageable.

Byron believes that in such a difficult time in life, everyone deserves to be treated with care, dignity, and respect. It is with those values and with an innovative, solutions-oriented attitude toward public service that Howard County families know when they need help, he and his office are always there for them.

Byron has been recognized as an innovative, tech-savvy manager, who took an atrophied courthouse office and turned it into a modern model of efficiency. When he came into office in 2010, he found every aspect of its management and operations in need of an overhaul. Most office expenses were being paid by check, the office calendar was a physical calendar stuffed in a drawer, the employee handbook was a single piece of paper, not all staff used e-mail, some receipts were issued in carbon paper triplicate, and court hearings were recorded on an audio cassette player. The office had never hired a person of color. Numerous long-standing probate procedures had no basis in law. Byron immediately developed and implemented a transition plan and made huge strides modernizing, professionalizing, and diversifying the office.

After reforming the Register’s office both physically and operationally, Byron oversaw its transition to the new Circuit Courthouse in 2021. He worked collaboratively with the county and architects to design an office that could serve the public for decades to come. This included additional workspace to accommodate additional staff, conference space, and a secure storage room for wills being held for safekeeping, accessible only by Byron and his sworn deputies. Working over the Independence Day holiday in 2021, Byron and his team moved, unpacked, and had the office up and running - on day one - answering phones and greeting members of the public visiting the new courthouse.

A careful steward of public resources, Byron has received back-to-back perfect audits from the Maryland Office of Legislative Audits. He’s overseen an office that has taken in over $50 million in revenue and every single penny is accounted for. He undertook the office’s first-ever audit of its wills being stored for safekeeping, returning nearly 3,400 wills to individuals who had moved out of Howard County, and discovering nearly 800 wills that belonged stored in old estate files both here in Howard County and in 21 other jurisdictions in Maryland. He’s engaged his staff in numerous other reviews of internal procedures and recordkeeping, revising and adopting best practices on an ongoing basis, as part of his belief that government should be in a continuous mindset of reflection, reform, and renewal.

Byron has made his office and its services visible and accessible by fostering strong ties with members of Howard County’s diverse community. He knows the importance of planning ahead and making sure our final wishes are carried out. He also knows the peace of mind that comes from having all of one’s affairs in order and understanding what will happen once we’re gone. None of us wants to think about the end of our lives, but Byron helps Howard County residents approach difficult conversations better informed and more at ease. It is because he feels this kind of outreach and engagement is so essential that he’s made community outreach a hallmark of his tenure as Register.

Byron has spoken at every library and 50+ center in Howard County, conducts a course every semester at Howard Community College, meets with civic, professional, and faith groups, hosts booths at popular events like the former 50+ Expo and Howard County Pride, holds virtual seminars, shares published guides and useful advice on his official website and on social media, and participates as a member of many local organizations. He has developed a collaborative working relationship with local attorneys, ensuring that they are kept up to date with procedural changes and new laws impacting the public. Byron and his office have also had a long history of giving back to the community, with a 100% participation rate by staff in the Maryland Charity Campaign, contributing to local collections for those in need, and, as a longtime advocate for environmental protection, participating in environmental cleanups around the courthouse campus and sponsoring roadways through the state’s Adopt-A-Highway program.

As the first openly gay elected official in county history, Byron has also been consistently active in the local, state, and national LGBTQ+ equality movement.