There are 78 article(s) tagged Mick Wright:

• October 2024

  • TIF, TIF: County Commission approves suburban tax incentives

    The economic impact plans for new mixed-use projects in Arlington and Lakeland will help with infrastructure costs.

    By Michael Waddell October 29, 2024

• August 2024

  • County Commission denies new ballot question for November

    The final vote on the referendum allowing the County Commission to hire its own independent attorney failed by one vote.

    By Bill Dries August 21, 2024

• May 2024

  • Halbert says corrective-action plan underway in clerk’s office, but...

    Wanda Halbert says she’s working on a plan, but she said her reports may still be late or inaccurate, the software auditors recommended doesn’t work for her office and the county is not funding her enough.

    By Bill Dries May 15, 2024

• April 2024

  • County Commissioner calls for resignation of General Sessions judge

    Shelby County Commissioner Mick Wright criticized General Session Judge Bill Anderson’s push for more defendants to be released on their own recognizance.

    By Bill Dries April 26, 2024

  • County Commission asks county clerk for corrective action plan

    The call for a corrective action plan isn’t binding on County Clerk Wanda Halbert, who is an elected official outside the county administration. The sponsor of the resolution says he doesn’t expect Halbert to submit the plan.

    Related story:

    New rules for solar farms get rewrite by County Commission

    By Bill Dries April 22, 2024

• December 2023

  • Wright sends 20-page complaint in Halbert investigation

    The day after the special prosecutor from Chattanooga came to Memphis to hear from the public, Shelby County Commissioner Mick Wright has drafted a formal complaint against Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert.

    By Bill Dries December 28, 2023

• November 2023

  • Wanda Halbert denies being evicted from Poplar Plaza office

    Wanda Halbert addressed the sudden closing of the County Clerk’s Poplar Plaza office at a press conference Thursday, Nov. 9. She maintains the exit was not an “eviction” but acknowledged her office missed paying two months’ rent and called it “trivial.”

    By Bill Dries November 09, 2023

• September 2023

  • Re-arrests down after new standing bail order, report shows

    The report was in response to two resolutions passed by county commissioners, both of which asked for data centered around the bail order.

    By Aarron Fleming September 19, 2023

• July 2023

  • Slow grand jury proceedings ‘a travesty,’ says top public defender

    Leaders discuss ongoing juvenile court problems and grand jury delays during Thursday’s County Commission public safety meeting.

    By Aarron Fleming July 28, 2023

• June 2023

  • Rare Sunday meeting leads to county wheel-tax hike options

    Four county commissioners — two from each political party — met Sunday, June 11, with Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris for four hours. They came up with a compromise that has a wheel-tax hike back in play after it was rejected by the commission earlier this month. But property tax hikes are also in play.

    By Bill Dries June 12, 2023

• May 2023

  • County Commission calls on judges to enact new release restrictions early

    The new state law requiring elected judges to make decisions about releasing defendants accused of violent felonies takes effect July 1. The County Commission is asking General Sessions judges to start doing that immediately.

    By Bill Dries May 16, 2023

  • Property tax cut and wheel-tax hike proposal is on shaky ground

    During Wednesday committee sessions, Shelby County commissioners set up later votes on a property rate that would remain the same while a commissioner’s resolution to do away with the wheel tax altogether waits in the wings. 

    By Bill Dries May 11, 2023

• April 2023

  • Harris, Wright pitch Regional One rebuild financing

    Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris takes a proposal to the County Commission next week to fund the county’s share of the $700-million capital project. Commissioner Mick Wright says he hopes that can be coupled with a property tax reduction.

    By Bill Dries April 18, 2023

  • Bartlett students shine at ‘friend-raiser’

    The Bartlett Education Foundation spotlights the suburb’s high schoolers in a fundraiser focused on student achievements.

    By Michael Waddell April 16, 2023

• March 2023

  • Halbert: ‘I’m not going anywhere ... Nobody asked anybody else to quit’

    Wanda Halbert met March 29 with county commissioners who pressed for specifics on a lease at Poplar Plaza and an opening date for the Riverdale Road office. One commissioner pushed his call for her to resign.

    By Bill Dries March 29, 2023

  • Registry, commercial taxes possible for rental investors

    Concerns about rental properties in the Bartlett area have drawn the attention of officials in the suburb, in the county and at the state legislature.

    By Michael Waddell March 01, 2023

• January 2023

  • Bartlett, Lakeland officials look ahead to 2023

    Lakeland and Bartlett have challenges they will encounter in 2023 and the suburbs need to address those as growth continues in Northeast Shelby County.

    By Michael Waddell January 03, 2023

• October 2022

  • Shelby County grant boosts Choices’ nurse midwife program

    Officials said the grant is intended to reduce maternal and infant mortality, particularly among the county’s Black population.

    By Aisling Mäki October 17, 2022

• September 2022

  • Blackburn and Hagerty cite Memphis crime in new call for federal funding

    The proposed “Restoring Law and Order Act” would include federal grant programs for more police and detectives focused on violent crime as well as a General Accounting Office examination of delays in processing rape kits.

    By Bill Dries September 15, 2022

• June 2022

  • New ordinance lets ex-offenders serve on Shelby County boards

    The ordinance, sponsored by by Republican Commissioner Mick Wright and Democratic Commissioner Van D. Turner Jr., allows people with criminal histories to volunteer to serve. 

    By Julia Baker June 14, 2022

• February 2022

  • County mayor’s race set with four candidates

    At the noon Thursday, Feb. 17, filing deadline to get on the county primary ballot, there was only one contested Republican primary. But every incumbent Democratic official holding countywide office had challengers in the May primaries.

    By Bill Dries February 22, 2022

  • County Commission Scorecard: COVID tests, CHOICES playground and Juvenile Court

    The County Commission Scorecard finds basic ideological differences remain on the 13-member body, as it moves into the home stretch of its four-year term.

    By Bill Dries February 03, 2022

• January 2022

  • In split vote, Shelby County decides to distribute COVID test kits

    Three county commissioners voted against the $1.44 million purchase of 180,000 tests in 90 kits with two tests a piece. One cited comments by Dr. Ben Carson on Fox News earlier this week complaining that more tests would mean a rise in COVID cases.

    By Bill Dries January 20, 2022

• December 2021

  • County Commission approves Tom Lee Park redesign funding

    Shelby County Commissioners approved $6.7 million in capital funding Monday, Dec. 20, for the Tom Lee Park redesign.

    By Bill Dries December 20, 2021

  • Pay raises approved for next elected commission, mayor and sheriff

    The commission being elected in August with at least six new members will get a 19.9% pay raise. The mayor and sheriff elected on the same August ballot will get 21% raises.

    By Bill Dries December 20, 2021