Jason Reynen, the founder of Clean Streets Penticton, has officially announced he will be running for a seat on Penticton council in the upcoming by-election on April 25, 2025.

Image Credit: Keith Lacey, Local Journalism Initiative

The Penticton man who came within 200 votes of becoming the city's mayor in the 2022 municipal election has officially thrown his hat into the ring to replace Amelia Boultbee on Penticton council.

Jason Reynen, 40, a father of four and owner of Penticton Performance Auto Care and Exhaust on Skaha Lake Road, formally confirmed Wednesday, Jan. 22, he will be running in the upcoming by-election scheduled for Saturday, April 25.

Boultbee took a leave of absence this past summer to run a campaign as the acclaimed Conservative Party candidate for Penticton-Summerland in last October's provincial election. Boultbee defeated NDP candidate Tina Lee by 300 votes to become the new area's new MLA.

She resigned her seat on council the following day. Boultbee was sworn in to the Legislature in Victoria in December.

Reynen admitted he has been leaning towards running for a seat on Penticton council for several months, but he's a busy man running his garage and he wanted to get the full support of his wife and four children.

"For me, it's always about family," said Reynen. "Considering all the circumstances, I talked to my wife. Some of my kids are still too young to talk about something like this, but I did get the thumbs up from my older kids. My wife said if you want to dedicate the next couple of years to this, she would have my back, so go ahead and try and get a spot for the next couple of years on council."

Despite having little name recognition and no political experience, Reynen said he was very encouraged to finish a close second to Mayor Julius Bloomfield in the 2022 election and that gave him the confidence to take a second run at political office.

"This will be a different hurdle and nothing is given," he said. "I'm a little bit better versed now on how things run. I have also been paying attention to everything that's going on (at city hall).

"At this point, I look forward to, if elected, sitting down with the rest of council and making some decisions for the community."

Reynen remains best known locally as one of the founders of the Clean Streets Penticton Facebook page,  a local group of community-minded citizens who have worked together to try and assist Penticton’s growing crime problem.

Clean Streets Penticton now has more than 5,000 members who work together to provide information and updates on criminal behaviour in and around Penticton.

While Clean Streets Penticton has grown in popularity, the Facebook page remains apolitical and he wants it to remain that way, said Reynen.

However, he admits he's likely to get a lot of support from members now that he's officially announced his candidacy.

"Being a founder of Clean Streets, I know I'll have some support there," he said. "That's definitely advantageous. I'm just going to take things one day at a time and then let members of the public make their decision on voting day."

Reynen said he's too busy running his business to spend long hours running a daily campaign, but what he has done is invite members of the public to visit him at his garage on Skaha Lake Road and have a chat.

"I think it's a great way to meet people ...  to sit down and speak with members of the general public," he said. "It's about letting people get to know me a little and spending a little one-on-one time with some of the people who are backing me and complete strangers.

"We can sit down and they can ask me about the key issues they see happening in the city and what they would like to be brought to the forefront. These interactions will form some ideas about what my campaign is about."

He's inviting anyone who wants to know more to drop on by during business hours and talk to him about issues that matter to them, said Reynen.

"I'm here all day, almost every day," he said.

Reynen planned to leave Penticton for Vancouver on Thursday morning to participate in a forum he was invited to attend by Conservative Party leader John Rustad.

"Rustad and a few other major people from the Conservative Party have organized this forum," he said. "Several Chiefs of Police have been invited from different communities, who will be speaking about some of the bigger problems we're having (with crime) here in B.C.

"I think it will be a good opportunity to sit down and listen and any information I can gather at this point is good information."

Reynen said he plans on meeting as many Penticton residents as he possibly can over the next three months by just attending events and at his garage.

He doesn't plan on holding any official campaign kickoff, but did use social media to announce he was going to seek a seat on council. 

"I just want everybody to know what I stand for and what I want to accomplish should I get elected," he said. "That's going to be my focus and where I put my work in."

Back in early December, Reynen said his priorities would be to lower the cost of living for the average Penticton resident and continue his efforts to lower crime and homelessness.

“There will be a lot of different facets to what we’re trying to accomplish,” he said. “I definitely want to curb some of the spending and (having) fiscal responsibility overall is a big thing giving the hard times so many people are going through.

"The increase in the homeless population and crime issues are obviously contributing factors as well. Safety is important as the majority of people aren’t feeling safe. That was a focus when I ran two years ago and I really don’t think much has changed.”

— This story was originally published by the Penticton Herald

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