Electronic Key Fob Distribution

My wife's primary presidency is very frustrated with the seemingly very limited availability of electronic key fobs. They have ONE for our entire presidency AND scout leaders. Is there some astronomical cost that makes it difficult for wards in low-income neighborhoods to have enough keys for a primary presidency? I'm curious about how distribution works within each ward, and if there is a policy on which leaders should/could have keys? The transition from sacrament meeting to primary when they all have 3-5 kids to take care of in addition to husbands with teaching callings on our way there is getting old and we're not getting clear answers from priesthood leadership. Is the transition from analog to digital keys causing stress for others?

There really isn't a very good detail, after opening a new building the FM group has a specific distribution.

A presidency with a single key has never made sense to me, but that sounds right. In large population areas the savings might seem fine, how hard is it to borrow a key from someone a block away. But in areas geographically dispersed wards this is impossible.

Personally I think temple recommends should lay is get into the building, I've seen key access deny some people privileges that others use regularly.

Our ward got key fobs 2 weeks ago. Our distribution list includes a fob for the Primary President, her 1st and 2nd counselor and secretary. That's 4 key fobs for the Primary. High Priests Group got 2 fobs and Elders Quorum got 2 fobs. I thought that was interesting. Relief Society and YM and YW got 4 fobs too. Just FYI.
We still have not received any written communication about policies and how they work. Just trial and error. The library was also rekeyed for key fob access.

I'm guessing it's because Elders Quorums and High Priest Groups don't generally have as many mid-week activities as the other organizations.

FM groups are charged with these things. They very from manger to manager and region to region on implementing things like Keys, Fobs, TV's, pushing snow and watering the landscape. They have complete autonomy as long as they hit budget numbers. Although I've personally experienced opinions from FM where they differ from how their Regional leadership wants things done, and they do what their regional leadership directs.

There is no rhyme or reason - That is why in one area a Primary Presidency gets a single key fob, and in another they get 4 - If the Stake President will go to bat for them, maybe it will change, but he is the only person with the power to 'persuade' the FM group.

But to the FM group's point. There is a TON of $$ lost because of the carelessness of members, keys that do not make it to the next person in the calling, until its so bad that the entire building is re-keyed. We, as members, own a lot of this as a problem.

I managed stake keys in my stake from 2005 through 2015. I always thought the attitudes and personal dynamics were fascinating. For example, when we released a stake YM or YW counselor, and ask for their keys, they often didn't know where their keys were because they never used the keys they were given. When we set apart their replacement, the new person in that stake calling is adamant that they must have an exterior door key, a meetinghouse library key, and a key to all storage closets in the stake center. I suppose it is all about the excitement of getting a new calling. I always like to observe the differences in attitudes concerning keys among members.

In our new stake center our stake leaders key fobs worked in all doors of the meetinghouse, then we locked everything down for the Temple Open house, after the open house, the FM group re-did the keys and the Stake Leaders key fobs only worked on the stake door (likely this was a mistake in the initial layout) - But the outcry was unbelievable. I couldn't believe that even after multiple communications, and the fact they could get into the building from the stake door it was still an issue, and even transferred to a new presidency. A new RS presidency was called, and the new president brought up in a stake council that she understood they used to have access to all doors, but now they only have access to the stake door. I was dumbfounded that the old presidency 'transferred' their personal displeasure to the new presidency.

Again, I believe we limit access too much, personally. I've seen Many leaders grab tables for use outside the building (personal use) use the building for sports activities (family events) - gatherings for young moms in the gym... All only because they had key access that others did not.

johnshaw wrote:FM groups are charged with these things. They very from manger to manager and region to region on implementing things like Keys, Fobs, TV's, pushing snow and watering the landscape. They have complete autonomy as long as they hit budget numbers. Although I've personally experienced opinions from FM where they differ from how their Regional leadership wants things done, and they do what their regional leadership directs.

There is no rhyme or reason - That is why in one area a Primary Presidency gets a single key fob, and in another they get 4 - If the Stake President will go to bat for them, maybe it will change, but he is the only person with the power to 'persuade' the FM group.

But to the FM group's point. There is a TON of $$ lost because of the carelessness of members, keys that do not make it to the next person in the calling, until its so bad that the entire building is re-keyed. We, as members, own a lot of this as a problem.

Policy actually dictates that the Stake President is in charge of key distribution:

Policy Point wrote: Stake presidents are responsible for control of physical access to meetinghouses. This includes authorizing and controlling meetinghouse keys. The director for temporal affairs can help stake presidents with key distribution and control procedures. Bishops are responsible for securing meetinghouses.

Where necessary because of local security concerns, the director for temporal affairs may implement enhanced security measures.

As a matter of practice though, it should be, and usually is combined effort between the Stake President and FM Manager.

That being said, FOBs are not approved in all locations.

johnshaw wrote:But to the FM group's point. There is a TON of $$ lost because of the carelessness of members, keys that do not make it to the next person in the calling, until its so bad that the entire building is re-keyed. We, as members, own a lot of this as a problem.

This is the argument for installing an electronic key system. Each key fob has a unique id, so if one is lost only that id needs to be removed from the system; the rest still work fine. I don't know exactly what system the church uses (we still use keypad systems in our stake), but key fobs for the systems I've seen are under $5, so cost is probably not the reason for being stingy with them.

I am the secretary to the primary presidency in my ward. I didn’t get the key fob yet. I have been the secretary for almost two years now. I asked the primary presidency about that. But when the lady got called as an assistant secretary. She got the key fob instead of me. It is not fair. I couldn’t get in the building to set up chairs in the primary room so I had to walk around to the front door. I’m so mad. If I don’t get the key fob, I would ask to be released from my calling.

You'll have to talk to the ward leadership on that. Those are local-level decisions.

Maybe we treat it like a large company. The church can just issue all members badges with RFIDs like we're employees. We'll get your photo, not only for the ward directory, but also for your "member card." Stakes will get badge printers and your picture is printed on your member card. When you renew your temple recommend, your member card works at the temple recommend desk. LCR controls who has access to what in your building by your callings. If you're a General Authority, your card gets you into all buildings. If you have a stake calling, it opens buildings where your stake has units. If you're in the bishopric, it opens the Bishop's office.

It's possible this may not work in some countries where the church exists, but it would in a lot of them. Costco can manage to print membership cards for a membership that well exceeds church membership.