City intern finds 199 sidewalk defects; 36 rated immediate priority, maps sent to DPW

An engineering intern reported 199 sidewalk and trail defects across Walker on July 28, recommending 36 of them be fixed within 30 days after the city’s 2025 inspection.

"My name is Chase Gumbs. I'm the engineering intern for this summer. And today, I will be sharing with you some of, the results from my sidewalk and trail inspection for 2025," said Chase Gumbs, the city engineering department intern, at the Walker City Commission meeting.

The intern told commissioners the Michigan Municipal League has cited trip-and-fall incidents on sidewalks as the state’s most common liability claim, and the city’s inspection used an iPad with an app called Field Maps to photograph and precisely locate each defect. Gumbs said the team then used ArcMap to compile a map book and a spreadsheet listing locations and photos.

Gumbs described the inspection’s three priority levels and recommended response times: priority 1 defects are "a sidewalk with a…