The members of the Cedar Hills 17th Ward are in the midst of an intense debate. Donald Johnson has been their bishop for almost five years and is expected to be released before the end of the year. This past Sunday, Johnson called Amy Burnett to be the new Young Women President. In a shocking turn of events, over half of the congregation refused to sustain her.

The members who opposed said that they believed it would be better for the next bishop to call the new Young Women president. A similar situation happened in 2015 – the last time a new bishop was called. The previous bishop, Barry Shanahan, wanted to call a new Sunday School president right before he was released, but the elders quorum president convinced him to wait and let the next bishop call a new one. 

Elders quorum president Mitchell Michaels said, “We don’t even know if Bishop Johnson is going to be released. He may be bishop for five more years. So, we should just get this call and sustaining over with.” Alexandra de Costa, a mia maid, went and found some of Young’s tweets from 2015. In the tweets he expressed his support for waiting to call someone until there was a new bishop.

Nancy Palmer, the current Relief Society president, said, “We believe there has been a precedent set, and we wish that would be respected.” Chuck Palmer is the first counselor in the elders quorum presidency and fully agrees with his wife. He also added, “I’ve never really agreed with Mitchell on anything, but I’ll do my darndest to stop this from happening.”