Tech Forum

Our branch has had several senior missonaries serve as the branch president. Until recently, we have had no problems with his 1st and 2nd counselors co-signing checks or authorizing donation batches in MLS. We currently have a senior male missionary of a senior missionary couple serving as Branch President.

However, about six weeks or so ago, MLS would not recongized the Branch president couselors. Puzzled, I called Church HQ, and a young lady stated that since the Branch president was a technically a missionary serving as a branch president, he could not offically have counselors, hence, those counselors could not have finace authorization rights on MLS to authorize tithing donations and checks, only the Branch President and the Clerk (Me). She qouted a page and section in the Church Leadership handbook ( I don't have them in front of me now.)

This led the our branch President talking to our mission president,who said he could not find these reffered pages in the Church Leadership handbook that prevented the Branch President from 1.) Having counselors and 2.) and that said counslers could not have authorization privileges. So that in effect, this senior missionary called as a branch preisdnet should indeed have counselors with MLS finace privileges to do tithing and checks with me, the branch clerk.

So I'm currently stuck in a rock and a hard place, where the Mission President says it's ok, yet MLS software will not give the current couselors the authority to do financal approvals. It's tough to have only me as the clerk and the Branch president who is busy to be the only ones to do thithing and checks.
Who can I appeal to in Church HQ to fix this situation?

rashirtz wrote:I called Church HQ, and a young lady stated that since the Branch president was a technically a missionary serving as a branch president, he could not offically have counselors, hence, those counselors could not have finace authorization rights on MLS to authorize tithing donations and checks, only the Branch President and the Clerk (Me). She qouted a page and section in the Church Leadership handbook ( I don't have them in front of me now.) . . .

Who can I appeal to in Church HQ to fix this situation?

I am not aware of this policy. Is your branch president, however temporary, listed in CDOL with his counselors? If they are, MLS should allow the counselors to help with the deposit.

The only thing I find in Handbook 1 is that the missionary does not need to be set apart if the branch is in the mission (not a stake). I see no restriction on his having counselors.

You might suggest to your branch president that he discuss this again with the mission president. Perhaps there is something in the Mission President's Handbook that addresses this situation.

Any appeal to the actual procedure would need to go through your mission president to Church headquarters. The MLS programmers take their direction from their priesthood leaders at Church headquarters.

If your branch is a part of a stake, have the stake clerk make sure the branch president and his counselors are properly recorded in CDOL.

rashirtz wrote:I called Church HQ, and a young lady stated that since the Branch president was a technically a missionary serving as a branch president, he could not offically have counselors, ... She qouted a page and section in the Church Leadership handbook ( I don't have them in front of me now.)

I think the first step is to call CHQ again and see if you can get the chapter and verse of that statement. Just because we can't find it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I'm really not finding much of anything on Branches (or counselors) at all, so I think I'm either missing something or it's in a different book.

The bottom line: if this young lady is correct, and that it is in a leadership handbook - that overrules the Mission President and what you desire is just not going to happen. It would probably require changing the handbook first.