Toms, 57, has served as chief deputy of the county office for 11 years.


He plans to run for the top position this year. Incumbent Donna Reinaker is running for county commissioner, leaving the post open.


Toms is one of four Republicans running for the office. The others are Mary Ann Gerber of Millersville, Alecia Kloiber of Adamstown and Katherine Wood-Jacobs of Ronks.


A former financial and insurance sales agent, Toms said he found his niche when he was hired to serve in the office in April 1994.


Reinaker has been the public face of the office for the past several years, and Toms is the one who keeps the office running. He and four other staff members handle a gamut of legal services, including adoption decrees, marriage licenses, probate and estate actions and collecting inheritance taxes.


“There is just something about the job that I like,” said Toms.


He recalls learning the ropes of the office when C. Thomas Walker Jr. was register of wills. The chief deputy then was Louis Trego Jr., who retired Jan. 1, 1996, after 40 years of service. After just 18 months as deputy, Toms was appointed chief deputy. He said Trego continued to work at the office long enough to teach Toms all the intricacies and legalities of the office.


“I started a file called ‘Questions for Lou,’ ” Toms said. Trego had whittled his time to a couple of days a week, and Toms would take advantage of his presence to answer some of the questions that arose during the days Trego was absent.


“He wouldn’t just tell me the answer; he would take me to the book that held the information,” Toms said.


Toms recorded the references, and today his “Questions for Lou” is accessible to the entire staff on the computer network.


For the past two years, Toms has been involved in updating the office’s computer software system.


The register of wills and clerk of 0rphans Court was the last county row office to come off the county’s mainframe computer.


Toms said he worked closely with Paperless Solutions Inc. of Bensalem to design a program that addresses all of the office’s needs.


Technologically speaking, Toms said, the office was far ahead of similar departments in other counties and states. “We’ve been automated since 1988, and the things Paperless Solutions were showing me, we could already do,” he said.


“We would have been giving up more technology than we were getting,” he said. So for two years, he worked with the vendor to enhance the system.


Toms said what sets him apart from the other candidates is his experience. He’s managed to keep the office running despite going from seven to five staffers to cover four departments. The county is in a hiring freeze.


The office staff, he said, knows all the idiosyncrasies that come with the job, including not to take vacations immediately after Valentine’s Day, beginning of June and in October and November, the times when the marriage license division is most busy.


He also cites the involved process of foreign adoptions, which, he said, the Lancaster office was so good at doing, families from other counties were traveling here to finalize their paperwork.


Steve Gibble, a probate attorney and county GOP chairman from 1992 to 1994, said he and about 40 other estate attorneys are supporting Toms’ campaign.


“He knows what he’s doing,” Gibble said, noting the GOP needs to endorse people who are qualified for the job rather than only those who’ve given time and money to the party.


Reinaker declined to comment about Toms, saying she wanted candidates to speak for themselves.


Toms said he will not seek the GOP endorsement. “I’ve never been a political person,” he said. “I can’t see seeking the party endorsement and then backing off if I don’t get it.


“People should stick with me because I am qualified to do the job.”


AT A GLANCE


Candidate: Jay R. Toms


Position: Lancaster County register of wills, clerk of Orphans Court


Party: Republican


Age: 57


Residence: Lancaster


Family: Married to Lois for 34 years


Background: Bachelor’s degree in business administration from LaSalle College; manager at Primerica and agent for Prudential Insurance. Member of the board of directors of Red Rose Credit Union and Willow Valley Condominium Association.