City Caused Tripping Hazard

Location: Utah - Weber County

The city just redid their city sidewalk 3 inches higher than the prior sidewalk. It now creates a tripping hazard coming off of my property onto the city sidewalk.

How do I best protect myself from a lawsuit and force the city to fix the problem they’ve created?

Do I need to paint it a bright color on my recessed side for high viz or is that opposite since the raised area is city sidewalk?

Do I need to contact my homeowners insurance to let them know so they can try to handle the city or be aware of a future possible suit?

Actions I’ve already taken:

- Notify the city, construction crew and state engineer of the issue prior to finalizing the sidewalk. The chalk lines looked too high so I expressed my concern, I was guaranteed it would match existing.

- I held up construction the day of the first pour because it was obvious the issue wasn’t corrected. They called the cops on me. Other elevation issues were rectified but not all once they finally poured.

- I followed up in writing with pictures to the city, construction crew, and state engineer of the new tripping hazard they caused and included 5+ pictures of the prior condition back 3 years through 2 weeks before they demoed.

- I went to a city council meeting showing pictures of the tripping hazard they created and noted it creates a liability for the city. I plan on going to each meeting to continue this until it’s fixed.

In all situations the city includes city manager, public works manager, mayor, city council, city lawyer, city liaison to the construction team.

Also, yes, it creates a flooding problem also, which I need to photograph first before I can use it as a true issue. The flooding may not be bad but it would cause long term damage to a set of stairs and retaining walls. Right now I’m trying to focus on the obvious to force them to correct their mistake.