A piece of broken playground equipment in Civitan Park was discovered early Thursday afternoon. (Photo provided)

BELPRE – A piece broken from a newly installed musical instrument at a Belpre park has been found, but city officials said they do not know who damaged it.

Mayor Susan Abdella said the city located the broken piece and expects to be able to repair the instrument, which was recently installed near the track at the park.

“We know where we found the piece that has been broken off, so we can repair it,” Abdella said. “We just don’t know who did it.”

The city posted about the damage on its Facebook page, saying one of the new musical instruments had been damaged and that “the entire top” was gone, leaving only the pole where it had been installed. The city later updated the post to say the broken piece had been located.

Abdella said the incident is frustrating because the park equipment is intended for public use.

“It’s part of our community,” she said. “We’re working hard to provide activities for everyone, and all this does is require us to spend more labor and money to try to fix what has been damaged.”

The city also reported plumbing issues at the restroom at Civitan Park. Crews were able to jet the lines and found that someone had stuffed a shirt down a toilet, causing a backup, according to the city’s Facebook post.

Abdella echoed the post, sharing her theory regarding the incident.

“I just think when you get lots and lots of people in the parks, things happen,” Abdella said. “This was a shirt. Somebody shoved his shirt down a toilet into the drain and stopped them up. I don’t understand it.”

The city said extra portable restrooms were added for the weekend in anticipation for the Multicultural Festival.

In its post, the city asked people to be respectful of the park so it can be enjoyed by everyone.

Abdella echoed that message, saying damage to public property affects the whole community by taking time and money away from other work.

“We’re working hard to provide activities for everyone,” she said.