An agreement between the Otago Sculpture Trust and the Mosgiel Taieri Community Board was reached in June last year to remove a picnic table after the trust questioned why it was placed on an artwork at the corner of Gordon and Factory Rds.
German artist Siegfried Koglmeier was commissioned by the Dunedin City Council to create an artwork for the corner site and in 1996 Beech Leaf Stepping Stones was completed.
However, in April last year a picnic table given by Rotary was installed and during the installation process, two beech leaf pieces were taken out and ''thrown into the garden''.
Otago Sculpture Trust member Stuart Griffiths aired his concerns to the community board at a meeting last week.
''What was commissioned and agreed upon has significantly changed,'' Mr Griffiths said.
''It's a distressing thing to see ... artwork degraded in this way.
''The sculpture trust would be happy to work with the board on places to move the table to.''
The board responded to Mr Griffiths' queries by saying that after consulting the Mosgiel community, it was found the majority of people wanted the table to stay.
''There was an outcry from the community [about the table being removed],'' board member Sarah Nitis said.
''It is likely that the table will remain, given the community's outcry.''
Member Mark Willis said the board might have an ''obligation to remove the table'' if the table was in breach of what was agreed upon when the artwork was first commissioned.
The board would be seeking legal advice on the matter before anything was done, he said.
