Halbert fires back at Harris, saying she needs two sites to replace Poplar Plaza office
Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert is firing back at demands by Mayor Lee Harris that she choose an alternative site for her Poplar Plaza office or face attempts at an ouster.
In a letter sent to Shelby County Commission Chairman Mickell Lowery — not to Harris — Halbert refers to Harris’ demands as a “brazened THREAT of a takeover of this County Clerk facility service.”
Harris’ office told The Commercial Appeal that Halbert responded to them by close of business Friday asking for a meeting with commissioners to discuss the issue of the Poplar Plaza location.
Wednesday, Harris wrote Halbert a letter saying she must select an alternative site in the Poplar Plaza complex for her office by close of business Friday, or he would call on the County Commission and district attorney to discuss state law that says they may act if a clerk “is derelict in his or her duty.” The lease on the current office expires this summer.
In her letter to Lowery, Halbert asks for a meeting with the commission to make a public presentation, saying, “I am an independent elected official the mayor is not my boss or the boss of the County Commission.”
She also writes that her office has only been offered one potential alternative space in Poplar Plaza and that the potential new space would only allow for 9 customers to be inside the building at a time, two more than the current location.
That would not be enough room, she said, so she wants to open another location in a bank at Quince and Perkins, in addition to a new Poplar Plaza site.
“We find it odd Shelby County Government is not promoting it to Commission nor are they supporting the DIRE need,” she wrote.
Attached to her letter is a list of concerns Halbert has reported to Shelby County Government, including lack of restrooms in facilities, lack of information on financials and issues with opening a new office on Riverdale.
The letter also includes pages of emails with fire marshal employees about office capacity, and records of inspections finding violations in 2022 of customers “blocking egress pathway” outside the building, an exit sign needing repairing and a back-door emergency light needing repair.
Halbert said that she has reported issues to the district attorney’s economics crime team. Previously, the Tennessee Comptroller told Halbert they had found no evidence “of fraud, waste and abuse.”
The flare-up between Harris and Halbert is just the latest development in ongoing issues with the clerk’s office.
Halbert has become a controversial figure in Shelby County and Memphis, often clashing with other officials like Harris over finances, whether her office is supported and whether her office spaces are up to code.
Her office has faced backlogs of license plates and of processing car dealer applications, resulting in her closing the clerk's office several times to tackle those backlogs. During one closure, Halbert went to Jamaica, sparking fierce criticism, including from the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury. She also has not opened the new office on Riverdale, which Harris’ team has said is ready to open, with Halbert saying she does not have the staff or equipment needed.
House Rep. Mark White (R-Shelby County) has also introduced legislation aiming to decrease the number of signatures needed on a recall petition from 15% of qualified voters to 1%, something he has said was triggered directly by Halbert.
Katherine Burgess covers government and religion. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Halbert fires back at Harris on replacing Poplar Plaza office
