The Denver City Council on Monday approved a $325,000 liability settlement involving the Denver Sheriff’s Department, along with a $15 million purchase order for parks and golf equipment. 

This is the first liability settlement of this type approved by the council for 2026.

“This funding is drawn from a liability claims pool of money that is refilled when necessary, from the city’s general budget, and does not come out of agency-specific budgets,” District 8 Councilmember Shontel Lewis said.

The settlement stems from a 2019 incident in which a video captured Denver Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Gentempo punching Serafin Finn, a detainee at the time, multiple times and shoving Finn, who was in a wheelchair, to the ground after Finn allegedly spat on him. 

The case is Estate of Serafin Finn v. City and County of Denver and Deputy Jason Gentempo, which was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado.

Next, the council authorized a $15 million master purchase order with LLJMWT, LLC, doing business as  LL Johnson Distributing Company, for parks and golf equipment and services.

The purchase order will run through July 31, 2027, with renewal options through July 31, 2029. 

“There’s a lot on deck this year,” Pamela Smith, Denver’s director of agronomy, told the council.

Smith, who oversees the turf and landscape for the city’s municipal golf courses, noted that over the duration of the purchase order, the city plans to convert additional (golf) carts to electric. The golf division will also purchase two electric greens mowers and a hybrid fairway mower.

Additionally, Smith said, the city’s golf department will be demonstrating electric robotic mowers, “that are pretty much going to be the way, I believe, of the future.”