- December 16, 2025
Following a state audit, the Florida Agricultural Museum plans for a campground and visitor center.
Following an October 2011 performance review citing several “control and operational deficiencies” at the Florida Agricultural Museum in Flagler County, the facility has undergone a series of improvement initiatives, according to Bruce Piatek, museum director.
Piatek says the audit was conducted by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services following the election of Adam H. Putnam, in order to ensure that all state facilities were operating efficiently and uniformly.
Split into six categories — organization, governance, development, finance, real estate and asset protection — the Office of Inspector General reviewed the museum’s records and policies, visited the site and conducted interviews before issuing improvement recommendations.
“I would consider it just reasonable due diligence from (Putnam’s) staff,” Piatek said. “He didn’t know us from a hole in the wall. … It’s good management.”
Once released, however, the report raised a few eyebrows around town from officials fearing that an unfavorable review could mean the potential loss of a tourism attraction.
“It is essential for the Ag Museum to retain its state designation,” said Georgia Turner, the county’s tourism director. “It is an important part of our county’s tourism product.”
“(The museum’s) state designation grants us a competitive advantage for marketing opportunities,” added Milissa Holland, county commissioner. “Visitors outside of the state are more likely to visit a state museum rather than a community museum. Tourism is such a significant economic driver in our county that we cannot afford to lose this type of asset.”
But according to Piatek, the possibility of the museum relocating “seems very unlikely.”
“I think the reason there wasn’t much made of (the report when it was released) was that most of the items in it were sort of technical things,” he said.
One recommendations cited in the report was to have more notices about formal meetings. Others included improving bookkeeping, assigning a worker to the museum’s entrance, storing cash more securely, requiring employees to wear identification badges, conducting background checks on all employees, improving the expense-to-revenue ratio, ensuring a majority of the board is present for action items and passing all administrative changes through the state.
“As a private nonprofit, we’re connected to the Department of Agriculture,” Piatek said. “We endeavor to comply with whatever (they) want us to do.”
Every year, Piatek said, the museum hosts a two-day Civil War re-enactment, with about 250 volunteers who have little, if any, contact with visitors. It would be infeasible to background-check them all, he added, and so staff is creating a classification system, defining who should and shouldn’t require checks.
In response to the state’s review, Piatek has created a document citing the status of each of the museum’s new endeavors.
At the next meeting, the board will agree to notify the state of any bylaws and salary changes, as well as have an annual report approved. Piatek is currently reviewing a plan to segregate duties more thoroughly, as well, to reduce mistakes and more easily detect fund misappropriation.
Maybe the biggest change, though, has to do with the museum’s master development plan, which will be reviewed at the next meeting, as well. The museum’s original conceptual plan, drafted in 1997 (before the museum was annexed into Palm Coast), is currently the basis for a development agreement Piatek is working on with the city.
Neither a commercial nor residential location, the museum has had trouble in the past complying with Palm Coast code. The two organizations have been working together the past 18 months or so, Piatek says, to define exemptions to allow for leeway to promote and expand.
“The report from the Department of Agriculture was a list of things they wanted us to address and discuss” Piatek said. “(The question now is): How can we logistically and responsibly address (these) needs?”
For the most part, though, Piatek is optimistic about the current state of his facility. “Bottom line is that we are in better shape today and the future is brighter than it was four years ago when we lost all state funding,” he said. “The economy has hit all museums hard, and we are no exception, but I have tightened our belt and we have survived and grown.”
Included in the museum’s master plan, currently being drafted, is the construction of a new campground, as well as a new onsite visitor center.
Email Mike Cavaliere at [email protected].
