More than 8,500 auto dealer applications backlogged as Shelby Co. Clerk's Office poised to close
Auto dealers in Shelby County are currently receiving back titles from the Shelby County Clerk’s Office from applications on cars sold in early May, said Kent Ritchey, past president of the Greater Memphis Automobile Dealers Association and president of the Landers Auto Group.
There are more than 8,500 dealer applications from new car dealers alone sitting in the clerk’s office yet to be processed, Ritchey said. If you add in used cars, that could be up to 10,000 or more — and that’s still not including casual sales, such as between friends.
This is all part of the latest backlog that Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert has said she will clean up over two weeks of closure of all of her office’s locations.
“We don’t know how many are in there, but we’ve been told with this two-week window their office will work exclusively with dealer packages,” Ritchey said. “But the thing that’s compounding this is we’re limited with how many we can take.”
More: 'There’s been no cooperation': Shelby County to ask state to intervene in Clerk's Office
After announcing that her offices would be closed from August 22-26 and September 19-23 for staff to work on the backlog of auto dealer packs, Halbert emailed auto dealers announcing that they could only drop off one pack of paperwork per dealership at the clerk’s Mullins Station and Downtown locations per day as her office processes a backlog of paperwork for newly purchased vehicles.
"One pack per dealership" means a bundle of information for up to 25 sale transactions, Halbert told The Commercial Appeal in a text message.
"The process can take up to a few minutes to a few days per transaction," she said. "Never been behind like this. new plates and mail stop slammed us."
In the meantime, both the Tennessee Department of Revenue and the State Comptroller’s Office are aware that the Shelby County Commission has requested an intervention into Halbert’s office.
The Comptroller of the Treasury’s Office said Friday it would request a meeting with other state officials, including the Department of Revenue, “to discuss how to proceed.”
And, Kelly Cortesi, director of communications for the Tennessee Department of Revenue, said its office is in regular communication with county officials.
“While the Tennessee Department of Revenue does not have the legal authority to intervene in this local matter, we are aware that the elected Clerk is taking measures to improve customer service and ensure Shelby County citizens receive their new license plates,” Cortesi said.
Katherine Burgess covers county 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: Shelby Co. Clerk's office prepare to take on backlog, auto dealer apps
