[JohnChristensen]

I think there is plenty of room for local autonomy within "the ropes". What I mean by ropes -- thing that don't preclude participation or call into question fairness.

What I have read (and all my knowledge is third-person) about FiM is that they want to change the age ranges on FLL, FTC and FRC inside of Michigan. In my opinion, that kind of local autonomy goes beyond "the ropes."

Local organizations should be managing the feel of their programs but not the scope. Setting the foundation for a program should be the responsibility of one entity. The old saying "No one can serve two masters" might need to be changed to "No one can serve N masters with consistancy || N > 2" if every region, district, etc. decides to do things their own way.