Shelby County Commission demands update on Clerk's Office investigation

Shelby County Board of Commissioners are asking Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp for a status update on the current investigation of County Clerk Wanda Halbert.

The resolution, presented as an add-on late Monday night during the commission meeting, will give the commissioners and update from Wamp's investigation.

"I think the request is for an understanding of the process being handled at the Hamilton DA's Office," said Commissioner Brandon Morrison, sponsor of the resolution.

The resolution specifically sites the closure of the satellite office in East Memphis, in addition to public complaints of the Clerk's Office operations.

"The Board of Commissioners now formally requests an update on General Wamp's Investigation for what appears to the public as an officer who has continually underperformed and deflected responsibility to such a degree it is believe to amount to knowing and willful neglect of duty," the resolution reads.

Commissioner Britney Thornton abstained from the vote and Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. was not present for the vote. All other commissioners voted in support of the resolution.

Wamp was appointed to perform a special investigation on the operations of Halbert's office in June. A news release outlined the special investigation and cited "numerous complaints concerning the Shelby County Clerk’s Office" and that if proven could constitute a willful neglect to perform the duties of Halbert's office.

Commissioner Mick Wright, who negotiated during the previous budget season to have Halbert investigated, has been outspoken about his disapproval of Halbert. Wright has requested Halbert step down from office numerous times and renewed his request after the closure of the East Memphis office.

Problems continue to be brought to light in the Shelby County Clerk's Office after the closing of the East Memphis office location last week. In a post on the social media X (formerly known as Twitter), Chief Operating Officer for Shelby County, Harold Collins, said that the clerk was behind on rent and was asked to vacate the East Memphis property within 30 days.

According to documents from the Shelby County Trustee's Office, Halbert has not submitted a completed revenue report on time dating back to at least July 2021.

Shelby County Trustee Regina Newman presented revenue reports for the first quarter for the fiscal year ending June 30 during a committee meeting last week. During the meeting, Newman said that Halbert had yet to submit the revenue reports for the last fiscal quarter. Following Newman's presentation at committee, Halbert sent October's revenue report.

The Clerk's Office is required by state law to submit completed reports on the 10th of each month as it is a county revenue generating office. Halbert has repeatedly sent "pending" revenue reports days late, sometimes even sending them months later. State law requires reports to be finalized and completed when sent on the 10th of the month.

The November 2022 report was sent to the trustee on Jan. 5 almost two months later than required by state law. The December 2022 report was also sent three days later than required by state law. These two reports, along with 14 others were not complete reports, and marked "pending" by the clerk.

Newman said that there is no way to know how much revenue the Clerk's Office is bringing in, because reports are "pending" or often are identical down to the penny of the previous month.

"The only person that knows what the revenue (for the clerk's office) is her," Newman said.

When Halbert was asked about her late revenue reports during a news conference last week, she said that the reports were sent late because she did not want to be accused of missing "one cent" and that previous financials had been "off." Halbert did not explain why the clerk's finances have been "off."

Additional documents reveal the Clerk's Office is answering only 17% of calls fielded to her office from County's main phone line in 2022. The Clerk's Office received 287,317 phone calls and answered only 50,380. Of those 280,000 phone calls, 211,718 were terminated. These calls do not represent calls made directly to the Clerk's Offices.

Other Offices who receive transferred phone calls from the County's main line all answered well over 50% of the calls fielded to their respected offices. While Halbert's office received almost 290,000 calls in 2022, the documents do not include calls that are placed to offices direct lines. The Trustee's Office received over 200,000 calls a year, and answers almost 99% of them.

Brooke Muckerman covers Shelby County Government for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at (901) 484-6225, [email protected] and followed on X @BrookeMuckerman.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert: Commission demands inquiry update