MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Shelby County officials responded to Clerk Wanda Halbert's press conference comments about lack of funding.
A motion filed by Halbert's attorney, Darrell O'Neal on Monday, May 13, 2024, asks the court to dismiss the petition to remove Halbert from office because it failed to state a claim.
Halbert and her attorney hosted a press conference Tuesday after the filing, and answered questions from reporters on the motion and the case in general.
"Specifically, if all of Plaintiff’s facts are taken as true, Plaintiff has not demonstrated with clear and convincing evidence ... that the incidents complained of in its Complaint amount to Defendant “knowingly or willfully neglect[ing] to perform any duty enjoined” upon her as the Shelby County Clerk," the motion to dismiss reads.
"We are very, very concerned about the pursuit of something that should've never happened, had we been made whole over the last five, six years," Halbert said. "And the record again will reflect that is exactly what we've asked of the county commission and the mayor and his administration.
"We are now struggling and living with the outcomes of the decisions that they made."
County officials sent a release Wednesday saying that over the last four years, Halbert's office has failed to spend more than $5 million.
"However, over the last four years the Clerk has had more resources than she could spend," the release said. "Financial reports show the Clerk's Office didn't spend $855,245 in 2020, $928,159 in 2021, $1,445,183 in 2022 and $2,288,653 in 2023 totaling just over $5.5 million."
The release also included annual budget reports for Halbert's office.
The clerk said that she had no intent to resign before the process plays out.
"There is going to be a corrective action plan," Halbert said before exiting the presser.
O'Neal said the standard in an ouster is extremely high and usually has a tie to criminal charges, something that is not seen in this case.
"The basis for this ouster, I don't think it makes the legal standard," O'Neal said.
Halbert said she would be at the county commission tomorrow to give them an update, and said that, "Hopefully this will be a fresh start."
Halbert's attorney also filed a motion in support of the petition to dismiss, giving the legal argument that Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp's petition to remove Halbert from office did not provide clear and convincing evidence.
"Here, if all of Plaintiff’s allegations against Defendant are taken as true, and all reasonable inferences are given to Plaintiff, Plaintiff’s Petition fails to state a cause of action against Defendant Halbert because at best, its allegations against Defendant are at best simple negligence, mere mistakes in judgment, and good faith efforts to perform her duties as enjoined to her," the motion reads.
Wamp's petition asks the court to remove Halbert from office "due to willful neglect to perform a duty enjoined upon the Shelby County Clerk by the laws of the State of Tennessee."
The filing said that Halbert consistently fails to turn in monthly reports to the trustee in a timely manner and said there is no legitimate reason for the failure to do so.
"Ms. Halbert's monthly reports are consistently inaccurate with collected dollar amounts not added properly," the petition reads. "The inaccurate reports are impossible for Shelby County government to rely on for purposes of government funding distributions and budget requirements."
The petition alleges that Halbert's reporting became so "untrustworthy," that the Shelby County finance department had to stop submitting the final reports in a timely manner because the inaccuracies were jeopardizing Shelby County budgetary numbers.
"Ms. Halbert was and is responsible for reporting to the county which of the collected wheel tax must be allocated to the schools versus debt collection," the petition reads. "Essentially Ms. Halbert was responsible for dividing the $50 for general government and the $25 for schools on her monthly reports so the trustee and finance department would know how much money should be allocated to each.
"For months, Ms. Halbert failed to report the wheel tax allocations appropriately. Further, Ms. Halbert was not aware for a period of months that the updated wheel tax resolution had passed through the Commission and had become effective."
The filing said that Halbert maintains she does not have the funding to fully staff her office, but is consistently underbudget and has historically given a "significant amount" of her budget back to the county at the end of each fiscal year.
The filing also said that the county estimates that Halbert's office owes hundreds of thousands of dollars to Shelby County government due to financing technology issues with the county.
Money spent by Halbert comes out of the general fund and should be paid back by writing a memo on expenditures, but Halbert has never written a memo requesting that her office expenditures be taken from her designated accounts.
The filing also said that the "neglect of duties" has had a strain on Shelby County businesses, specifically car dealerships who rely on the Clerk's Office to conduct business.
"Since Ms. Halbert has been in office, it can take up to three months for an auto buyer to receive their tag," the filing reads. "A temporary 'drive-out' tag is supposed to only be on a vehicle for a short period of time. When it takes months to get the tag from the Clerk's office, buyers have to return to the dealership repeatedly to get their temporary tag updated, or else they are at risk for being pulled over by law enforcement for tag violations."
The filing also mentions past issues with the office, including office closures during Halbert's tenure and comptroller audits.
In a post to social media, Halbert responded to the initial petition to remove her from office.
"The Office of the Shelby County Clerk over the last 5+ years has repeatedly 'sounded the alarm' regarding a host of findings/concerns (financial included)," Halbert wrote. "Said concerns have been documented and reported to multiple legal County & State entities but never investigated. Fortunately, the day has come that FINALLY begins direct attention to the matters we have raised. While our team cannot discuss these and other matters, we will not be afraid to do what the law requires of us. When given authority, we commit to being transparent and will report accordingly."
The petition to remove Halbert also asks to suspend her from office until the resolution of the case.
A status conference is set for May 31 in Shelby County Circuit Court.