Medina police chief, sergeant resign to join OC Sheriff’s Office
File photos by Tom Rivers: Christian Navas was sworn in as Medina’s police chief during a Village Board meeting on Dec. 15, 2025. He submitted a letter of resignation, with his last day as chief on July 19.
MEDINA – The Medina Police Department is losing two of its leaders to the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office.
Police Chief Christian Navas and Sgt. Jacob Reeves both submitted letters of resignation that were accepted by the Village Board this evening. Navas will be done on July 19 while Reeves’s last day is July 20.
Both are leaving Medina to join the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office for significant boosts in pay, said Mark Prawel, a Medina village trustee and retired Medina police officer.
The resignations will leave the department with one sergeant, Jonathan McManus, who joined the Medina PD on Sept. 26, 2022.
Navas joined the department about a decade ago and was appointed police chief on Dec. 15, 2025.
Sgt. Jake Reeves gets helps with his collar brass insignia from then Lt. Christian Navas and then Police Chief Todd Draper on Dec. 17, 2024. Reeves’ wife Dana watches after Reeves took the oath of office for his promotion.
Reeves also joined the Medina PD in 2016. He was appointed to sergeant in December 2024. He also was the department’s K9 handler beginning in 2020 with Phoenix, a Belgian Malinois. But the Medina Village Board disbanded the K9 program in 2025 in a cost-cutting move.
Medina is in arbitration with its police officers, who have been without a new contract for three years.
The Orleans County Legislature in may approved a three-year labor deal with 24 members of the Orleans County Deputy Sheriff’s Association, which includes deputies, sergeants, criminal investigators and lieutenants.
The contract gave the members a significant boost in pay to bring the group to the average pay for deputies in smaller counties.
They were about $5,400 below the average base salary for their positions among 13 smaller counties. In Orleans, they currently have a base salary of about $75,000.
They will get a 6.6 percent raise in 2027, bringing the base pay to about $80,000, and will then receive 2.5 percent increases every six months – Jan. 1, 2028; July 1, 2028; Jan. 1, 2029; and July 1, 2029.
The Legislature approved the contract because many of departments in nearby counties are offering $100,000 to start.
The Medina Village Board went into executive session this evening to discuss how to fill the vacancies in the Medina PD, and how the department will be led in the interim.
Medina also saw its previous police chief, Todd Draper, retire and then join Orleans County in the Major Felony Crime Task Force as an investigator.
