The Tennessee Comptroller’s Local Government Audit unit unveiled results from its three-week examination of Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert’s Office, which revealed, among other things, that the clerk’s team does not understand or properly utilize the state’s accounting software. In a press release last week announcing the findings, the Comptroller’s office said the same computer system is used in county clerk’s offices across the state without the same problems. Also last week, Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp, who also is tasked with investigating problems in Halbert’s office, visited Memphis. She did not give a timeframe for completing her investigation.

Additionally, a top jailer’s deposition reveals that a lack of staff and lower wages are reasons the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office has struggled to run the county’s jail; Memphis business leaders said on last week’s “Behind the Headlines” episode that people leaving Memphis because they don’t feel safe is a real threat to the city’s growth; and President Joe Biden has nominated Kevin Ritz, who leads the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

— Metro editor Jane Donahoe

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The local government audit unit of the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office issued its report Thursday, March 21, on incorrect revenue figures from the Shelby County Clerk’s office after a three-week investigation that included a week in Memphis.

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