Long lines resume at clerk’s office following week-long closure

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - When the Shelby County Clerk’s Office closed last week to put a dent in the office’s backlog, customers were hopeful that the long lines would go down as well.

However, when Shelby County residents returned to the clerk’s office on Monday, they still had to wait in long lines.

According to those who waited, the lines started well before the sun rose on the morning of August 29.

Some said they lined up at 5 a.m. in anticipation of a long wait to be the first in line and to beat the Mid-South heat.

Around noon, some customers were seen in chairs they brought from home.

One customer at the Mullins Station location near Shelby Farms said she wished she thought to come earlier in the day.

She said she wished she knew what the office was doing all last week because to her, Monday’s lines were the worst she’s ever seen.

“I don’t know what they did, but I think they should’ve had a better solution than us standing out in this sun,” said Brenda Hackworth. “I feel like they should’ve come up with some type of solution by them being closed all last week.”

Hackworth also stressed how terribly hot it was outside and how dangerous the weather could be.

She said she believes that providing a tent or water could have been the least the clerk could do.

County Clerk Wanda Halbert spoke publicly for the first time on Monday morning since she left the country during the office’s week-long closure.

Halbert said her office caught up on 2/3 of the “dealer work” that needed to be completed.

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