45 years ago today - Jun 4, 1976

The announcement of the new bishopric position of the "Presiding Bishopric Area Supervisor." Later called the "area director of temporal affairs," this calling represents the decentralization of the Presiding Bishopric administration in the Presiding Bishopric International Offices (PBIO). Several areas, each with its own PBIO, are administered by a "zone administrator of temporal affairs." Although implemented outside the LDS population centers of the U.S. and Canada, these are the first intermediate offices in the twentieth century between the Presiding Bishopric and ward bishops.

[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database (http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase)]]