Shelby Co. Commission moves ahead on Halbert corrective action plan

A corrective action plan for Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert was passed during Monday night's Shelby County Board of Commissioners meeting. The resolution asks that the recommendations laid out by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury Division of Local Government Audit be addressed.

The resolution asks that Halbert appear at the May 1 Shelby County Commission audit committee meeting to present her corrective action plan and answer any questions from commissioners.

Commissioner Mick Wright, the sponsor of the resolution, said the resolution is similar to a previous one passed asking for a corrective action plan in response to findings from a previous audit.

The resolution states that Halbert “failed to submit accurate and timely revenue reports to the Shelby County Trustee's Office between July 2023 and March 2024.”

Wright said the continued issue of late revenue reports impacts the county's ability to develop the upcoming budget and impacts the county's overall financial position. The resolution hopes to create a corrective action plan for the clerk's office that addresses the multiple issues found by both the state comptroller and the county's independent auditors.

The vote was not unanimous, despite resolutions in the past being such. During an April 2022 meeting, a corrective action plan was passed regarding the annual government audit and received a unanimous vote, according to Wright.

“All I am asking here is for us to follow up on those six...recommendations from the comptroller,” Wright said.

Commissioner Britney Thornton was the only commissioner to vote against the corrective action plan. Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. abstained.