'Failures that must be fixed.' Hamilton County DA investigating Shelby Co. Clerk gives update

Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp told reporters that during her visit to Shelby County these past two days she learned things that give her "great concern" regarding Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert.

"It makes sense that there are unhappy citizens and unhappy commissioners and unhappy elected officials, that makes sense to us at this point. There certainly are failures that must be fixed at some point whether that's through removal of office or not, we will make those decisions," Wamp said.

Wamp said she was pleased that the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury "invested" his resources into Halbert's office to get correct revenue reports released. But the deficiencies in the office currently are not new, she added.

"My major concern is that (the) deficiencies are very similar to the deficiencies she had noted by the comptroller several years ago. They're not a whole lot different," Wamp said.

Thursday, the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury released a report outlining problems found by a state audit performed in the Clerk's Office this past month. The Comptroller had been notified by Trustee Regina Newman about repeated late revenue reports sent to her office by Halbert.

Wamp said that she and her team put the investigation on pause in the beginning, hoping that the issues would resolve themselves and Halbert would "start doing better."

"If I'm being investigated over X, Y and Z I'm going to try to do better at X, Y and Z. And sometimes in a leadership position you just have to sort of let things play out and hope that they work themselves out, that did not happen," Wamp said. "Mrs. Halbert did not begin to do better and to report more accurately and so that's why we are in the position that we're in today."

The local government audit team from Comptroller Jason Mumpower's office said there were numerous issues within the office that Halbert needed to address in order for him to have confidence in her as the clerk.

“While I’m pleased with the results of our work, I recognize there are still many operational deficiencies within the clerk’s office,” Mumpower said in a press release. “The Shelby County Clerk must improve operations to gain the confidence of citizens. I hope the Clerk will be receptive to additional training that will only improve the function of this important government office.”

Previously: Shelby Co. Clerk Wanda Halbert asks to delay county commission appearance amid investigation

In a letter to Shelby County Lee Harris, Mumpower said unless additional training or intervention is taken by Halbert, his office "lacks confidence the clerk’s office will be able to accurately report revenue figures in future months."

The burden of proof for ouster proceedings is high, Wamp said, and reiterated that she would like to have a solid case before bringing anything to a judge. Wamp did say that her office will begin a draft of proceedings when they return to Hamilton County but confirmed there is no time estimate on the conclusion of the investigation.

"We're gonna go back to the office and actually sort of draft what a petition would look like. I'm not I'm not going to do this and go through with this unless I think that we have a chance of success," Wamp said. "I'm not sure what our chances of success will be but what I'm called to do is to ensure in Hamilton County that we protect the public in this case, I'm here to ensure that there's an elected official who is not neglecting her duties."

Wamp also said that people her team interviewed in December who worked in the clerk's office are no longer there, and the high turnover rate is a grave concern.

More: New revenue reports from Shelby County clerk released, OKed by state auditors

"You have to have some stability in an office like that. There's always going to be turnover, so that's not entirely anyone's fault," Wamp said. "But there's been...a lot of turnover and I think in a large county office like hers that's collected the amount of money that she collects, she would need good people around her and I'm...not saying that people around her not good. I just don't know if there's enough."

Halbert, who previously served on both the Memphis City Council and the school board, has become a polarizing figure since taking office as county clerk in 2018.

She’s faced criticism for long lines at clerk offices, for license plate backlogs, for expiring leases at offices and for traveling to Jamaica during a closure of her offices to handle a backlog.

Halbert has been under investigation for willful neglect of office since June.

Brooke Muckerman covers Shelby County Government for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at (901) 484-6225, brooke.muckerman@commercialappeal.com and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter @BrookeMuckerman.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Wanda Halbert investigation: Independent investigator expresses converns