Assistant Ward Executive Secretary

We have the unique (or maybe not so unique) situation of having an Assistant Ward Executive Secretary to help relieve the burden on our Ward Executive Secretary.

The assistant doesn't attend any bishopric meetings, but does help with some of the responsibilities. As the Clerk, I am able to give him the access he needs within MLS to fulfill his responsibilities. I understand that LCR is tied directly to your calling title in MLS; however, since this is a "custom calling" it does not tie to access rights within LCR. Is there a way to give him the same accesses on LCR as the Exec. Sec.?

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

There are two possibilities I see:

1. Assign him as an Executive Secretary in MLS so he has all the same rights as the actual ExecSec (not my preferred option in a Least Privilege model we seem to want to use.
2. The type of work he is doing could be proactively assigned with reports or whatever else he needs. If its the action/interview or TR calling, etc... help with keeping on top of callings or whatever. Typically this data doesn't change so often that a monthly print-out or pdf file sent might be just as easy to manage.

araehl wrote:We have the unique (or maybe not so unique) situation of having an Assistant Ward Executive Secretary to help relieve the burden on our Ward Executive Secretary.

I don't think this is too unique. In both my last and current wards we have had an Assistant Ward Executive Secretary. In our last ward we actually called him as an Assistant Ward Clerk. In MLS we listed him as both Assistant Ward Executive Secretary (custom calling) and Assistant Ward Clerk. My current ward has him listed with both callings as well.

However, before giving him a calling like that, I would check with the stake. Because an assistant ward clerk is to be set apart by the stake.

russellhltn wrote:However, before giving him a calling like that, I would check with the stake. Because an assistant ward clerk is to be set apart by the stake.

Yes, indeed. That's why we called him as an assistant ward clerk in the first place.

johnshaw wrote:There are two possibilities I see:

1. Assign him as an Executive Secretary in MLS so he has all the same rights as the actual ExecSec (not my preferred option in a Least Privilege model we seem to want to use.

This doesn't work since MLS and CDOL only allow one Executive Secretary per ward.

It really would be helpful to have a few more standard callings for assistants:
Assistant Ward Executive Secretary
Assistant Mission Leader (as mentioned in Handbook 2, 5.1.3)
Assistant Family History Leader

sbradshaw wrote:It really would be helpful to have a few more standard callings for assistants:

Helpful, yes. But I don't expect them if they can't be found in the Handbook.

Was just called as an Assistant Ward Exec Sec myself and the bishop expected I would have access to LCR, but that is still not the case. I could suggest the workaround but i'm not sure I really want to show up as THE Exec Sec for the ward.
In my case they do want me in bishopric meetings and have the same access to these resources as the Exec Sec. Has anything changed on this since last year? Who would need to be petitioned to consider such a change?

bjodasso wrote:Was just called as an Assistant Ward Exec Sec myself and the bishop expected I would have access to LCR, but that is still not the case. I could suggest the workaround but i'm not sure I really want to show up as THE Exec Sec for the ward.

There is no workaround that would allow you to show up as "THE Exec Sec for the ward," since there can only be one person in that calling.

But the workaround that does work is for you to be given the standard calling of Ward Assistant Clerk so that you'll have the access you need (although it may give you more access than is desired, but it seems to be the best option at this point -- your bishop will have to decide that, probably with permission from the stake president, since clerk callings are issued by the stake). That means you'll show up on leadership lists with that calling, but you can also keep your custom calling of Assistant Ward Executive Secretary so that ward members will see you in that calling.

bjodasso wrote:In my case they do want me in bishopric meetings and have the same access to these resources as the Exec Sec. Has anything changed on this since last year?

No, nothing has changed.

bjodasso wrote:Who would need to be petitioned to consider such a change?

You can always use the Feedback link in LCR to make your request. Of course at this moment you don't have access to LCR, but someone else in your ward leadership could make the request.

bjodasso wrote:Was just called as an Assistant Ward Exec Sec myself and the bishop expected I would have access to LCR, but that is still not the case.

Short answer: There is no such calling in the Handbook. Meaning it's not a standard position. No custom positions will have special access to anything. On the other hand, a ward can have as many assistant clerks as they wish - with the stake's permission.

I'm a Bishop and we just called an Assistant Ward Executive Secretary. I would think that anyone in the Bishopric Group would be given the same rights. It is frustrating that my counselors cannot request member records, or move members out by example, but a Ward clerk can

If I, as Bishop, add a custom calling, would it be possible for me to be given privileges to assign the rights needed?

Custom callings carry no rights. There's no way to change that.

softdev2k wrote:I'm a Bishop and we just called an Assistant Ward Executive Secretary. I would think that anyone in the Bishopric Group would be given the same rights. It is frustrating that my counselors cannot request member records, or move members out by example, but a Ward clerk can

That is by design. Section 13.4 of Handbook 1 talks about ward records and reports. The word "counselors" appears one time in that section. The word "clerk" appears 34 times. The paragraph that talks about membership records refers to the ward clerk and assigned assistant ward clerks. It does not mention any responsibilities for counselors.

I'm a counselor to a bishop. My assignment as a Church employee means I have the capability to do anything my ward clerk can do in LCR and I am quite a bit faster at it than he is. When records need to be moved, my ward clerk moves records into my ward. That's his stewardship, not mine.

softdev2k wrote:If I, as Bishop, add a custom calling, would it be possible for me to be given privileges to assign the rights needed?

No.