PARKERSBURG – Mayor Jimmy Colombo said the sand volleyball court will soon be removed from City Park.

That was a course of action he was leaning toward before a young woman severely cut her foot on broken glass in the sand Tuesday afternoon. Sand from the court was winding up on the adjacent basketball courts, which created a safety hazard, Colombo said.

“This had to be done,” he said Thursday. “It’s unfortunate we didn’t get the sand moved last week” before the injury.

The sand courts at both City and Southwood parks were cordoned off with caution tape Wednesday morning after the incident was brought to city officials’ attention Tuesday evening. Police checked the scene the next day at the mayor’s request and were unable to locate the item that cut through the woman’s flip-flop and into her foot. It was initially reported as a beer bottle.

Previously, Colombo had said the site of the recently demolished miniature golf course could have been a new location for the volleyball court, but he said Thursday no decision has been made.

Councilman Mike Reynolds, whose district includes City Park, said he’s heard from people in the park that sand outside the volleyball area was a problem.

“What they tell me is the sand on the basketball courts pretty much makes those courts non-usable,” he said.

But Reynolds would like to see a volleyball court at the park again.

“If there’s a way we can move it and keep it safe, I’m definitely in favor of replacing it,” he said.

Reynolds said he welcomes input from citizens on features needed at the park.

The courts at Southwood Park were closed as a precaution, and Colombo said “it shouldn’t be that long” until they reopen.

“When we do open that, we will monitor the sand, but you could just walk away from it and somebody could throw something in it,” he said.

A representative of the Friends of Parkersburg’s Parks group said at Tuesday’s council meeting the city should check the sand in the volleyball courts every morning to make sure they are safe or remove them.

Christi Walcutt, one of the group’s leaders, said she thinks “it’s a shame” the court is being removed.

“It doesn’t address the root cause of the problem at all … the littering and, if it was alcohol, the drinking at the park,” she said.

Colombo said the parks are monitored by police, but they can’t be there all the time.

“We have cars going through there all day; that’s part of the route,” he said.

People will be cited if caught littering, but it’s impossible to stop it all, Colombo said.

“People litter everywhere, and we have people picking up litter every day,” he said.

The mayor also said purchasing and installing the high-quality cameras needed to effectively monitor parks would be too expensive.

“We can’t spend our entire park budget on security,” Colombo said.