Beginning November 9, the Shelby County Clerk’s Office will no longer operate its branch at 3412-A Plaza Dr. in Poplar Plaza, as announced in a recent message on the platform formerly known as Twitter by the official Shelby County government handle.

The announcement, made on a Monday, indicated that County Clerk Wanda Halbert had fallen behind on rental payments and was instructed to leave the property within a 30-day period. Back in June, Poplar Plaza’s proprietors expressed optimism about finalizing a lease agreement with the Shelby County Clerk’s Office.

While the lease for the current clerk’s office location was due to expire at the end of June, Finard Properties, the owners of the plaza, had previously expressed willingness to negotiate with Halbert on establishing a new spot within the same shopping center, offering the Clerk’s Office the opportunity to remain at its existing location until the new space was ready.

Finard Properties, in a communication about the lease termination at the Poplar Plaza site, asserted that the rent delinquencies began in July. As it stands, the clerk’s office is in arrears by approximately $10,000 to Finard Properties. Despite this, Finard Properties has not applied holdover rent charges.

The original lease at Poplar Plaza was scheduled to expire in June, with any provision for automatic renewal coming to an end by September.

Correspondence from a Finard Properties representative pointed out that while the company is not eager to displace the clerk’s office, the long queues at the Poplar Plaza site have been disruptive to the plaza’s other tenants.