Shelby County Clerk's Office in Poplar Plaza will close due to unpaid rent

Starting Nov. 9, the Shelby County Clerk’s Office will no longer have a branch at 3412-A Plaza Dr. in Poplar Plaza according to a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, from the Shelby County government account.

The post, made Monday, said County Clerk Wanda Halbert has been behind on rent and was asked to vacate the premises within 30 days. In June, the owners of Poplar Plaza said they were “optimistic” that they were nearing the signing of a lease with the Shelby County Clerk’s Office.

The current clerk’s office in the plaza has had an expiring lease and was scheduled to vacate the premises by the end of June, but Finard Properties had said it was willing to work with Halbert to build out a new location in the same plaza and to allow the Clerk’s Office time in its present location until the buildout was complete.

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris threatened in March that he could seek Halbert's removal if she did not select an alternate location for the busy office. State law provides for ouster proceedings for county officials who “knowingly or willfully neglect to perform any duty enjoined upon such officer by any of the laws of the state.” Proceedings can be instituted by the attorney general, district attorney general or county attorney.

Halbert is also being investigated by an independent prosecutor from Hamilton County, something that was negotiated during the previous budget season by Shelby County Commissioner Mick Wright.

Wright said in a text Monday that he is "again" asking Halbert to resign from her position.

"It is not clear what is keeping Clerk Halbert from fulfilling the duties of her office. The residents of Shelby County deserve better ― timely service, locations that don't abruptly close and open communication," Wright wrote in a text.

In a statement Monday afternoon, Halbert said it was "with deep regret" that the clerk's office was vacating the location. She said current employees would be reassigned to other open locations. Halbert also added that her office was working to update all clerk's office facilities to "modernize the customer experience, eliminate years of long lines and wait times" and provide modern technology to serve county residents.

Finard Properties did not return a request for comment.

Documents point to a pattern

In a letter regarding the termination of lease of the Poplar Plaza location, the property management company claimed that issues paying rent date back to July. Currently, the clerk's office owes almost $10,000 to Finard Properties. Finard Properties, which owns Poplar Plaza, has not been charging holdover rent.

The lease for the Poplar Plaza location was set to expire in June, with any automatic extension of the lease ending at the end of September.

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Finard Properties also owned the Whitehaven location where the lease previously expired and the clerk's office was charged holdover rent for still occupying the space. The Whitehaven location's long lines did not impact neighboring businesses according to the email, because the adjacent office space was vacant. The email also says that communication between Finard and the clerk's office had not been consistent; many times the property manager never received communication of any sort back from the clerk's office.

In the emails, a representative from Finard Properties said that the company's agenda is not to remove the clerk's office locations, but long lines outside of the Poplar Plaza location have affected other tenants in the property.

Brooke Muckerman covers Shelby County Government for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at (901) 484-6225, [email protected] and followed on X @BrookeMuckerman.

Katherine Burgess covers county government and religion. She can be reached at [email protected] or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Shelby County Clerk's Office in East Memphis to close due to unapid rent