MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Wanda Halbert has responded after Hamilton County District Attorney General Coty Wamp filed a petition on behalf of the State of Tennessee to remove her from office as Shelby County Clerk.
Shelby County Circuit Court case history shows that the complaint was filed on Monday, May 6, and a summons has been issued.
The 49-page 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."
Halbert made a social media post on May 6 responding to the petition.
"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 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.
Halbert is allowed 20 days from service of the petition to answer allegations listed in the filing.
"Ouster proceedings are given priority over civil and criminal actions and shall be tried in the first term after filing of the petition, provided that the defendant's answer has been on file for at least 10 days before the start of the trial," the filing reads.
The petition also requests that Halbert be suspended from office until a final hearing is conducted, and the State of Tennessee requested a date be set for a hearing on suspending Halbert before the trial.
"In the interest of fairness to the Defendant, as suspension is requested simultaneously with the petition in this case, the State requests that this hearing be set at least 20 days after the service of this petition be completed so that Defendant may have time to acquire an attorney and respond to the petition," the filing reads.
Hamilton County District Attorney officials were not immediately available for comment.