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Shelby County Clerk pushes for in-house mail after thousands of license plates went missing
Summary
Clerk Wanda Halbert urged the commission to allow an in-house mail operation after she said nearly 7,000 license plates packaged for mail disappeared after leaving the clerk's custody; staff said in-house mail and scanning would restore chain of custody.
Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert told commissioners she wants mail operations moved in-house after inventory disappeared in the current process, citing missing license plates as a central example.
"Almost 7,000 license plates just disappeared in thin air. To this day, we have not seen them," Halbert said, describing a loss that she said occurred after the office turned packages over for final mail processing. She said shifting mail sorting and mailing functions into the clerk's back office would preserve chain of custody and allow the office to track inventories internally.
MVR Administrator Benny Smith described how scanning and an in-house mail function would reduce document handling and prevent loss of titles and plates by keeping the scanning, validation and mailing steps inside the clerk's control. He said the current sequence—front office collection, scanning department processing, then external mail handling—creates opportunities to lose custody after the clerk's office turns items over.
Halbert said the office can show inventory from the I3 Vertical BIS system that tracks items touched by staff, and she asked for support from the commission to pursue an internal mail solution. Commissioners did not take an immediate vote but asked for additional details in follow-up materials.
