The toilets, urinals, and sinks on the north end of Maysa Arena were damaged by vandals sometime during the past week, according to Minot Park District. Friday, both restrooms were closed for part of the day while park district staff cleaned up.

The restrooms were called “unusable” by Jerrod Olson, the director of Parks and Operations. Olson said pressure would have been placed on parts of the plumbing that normally wouldn’t be exposed to those conditions.

“The park district staff works diligently when vandalism and things like this happen throughout the year to get things up and running as quickly as possible,” Olson said. He explained that while the park district sees its fair share of vandals throughout the year, “things went a little bit further this time.”

Any public place can be vandalized to varying degrees, and businesses open to the public routinely find minor acts of vandalism that they manage in their day-to-day, Olson said.

“It’s anywhere from small graffiti to breaking fixtures to plugging sinks,” he said.

When things like this happen within the park district, the onsite staff take care of what they can, but if additional equipment or expertise is needed, other park district employees come to help, Olson said. Depending on the season, different departments may get involved in clean up. The severity of the incident may also dictate the response and who helps, and if the situation is too severe, the city may hire outside professionals. These incidents impact the department’s budget and can have an impact on other projects, Olson said.

The department is continuing to evaluate the plumbing damaged at Maysa Arena to ensure no permanent damage was caused and everything is working as it should.