by Dennis Dalman
St. Joseph now has a new council member, 24-year-old Andrew Mooney, who was chosen by the council to serve the remaining two years of former council member Adam Scepaniak’s four-year term.
Mooney took the oath of office at the Jan. 21 council meeting.
Scepaniak, who served on the council for two years, was elected as the city’s new mayor in the Nov. 5 general election. Also elected in that election was newcomer Adam Schnettler and incumbent Kelly Beniek, who was re-elected to another four-year term.
Mooney was chosen by an agreement among council members and Mayor Scepaniak in mid-January after they interviewed five candidates who applied to fill the council-seat vacancy, one of them being Mooney.
“I am happy for the opportunity to help our town, and I appreciate all those who supported me,” said Mooney during an interview with the Newsleaders.
As a St. Joseph firefighter, Mooney said he has come to know many St. Joseph residents and has helped many of them in one way or another, day to day.
“This (being a council member) will be another avenue to help people in the town.”
When asked if he has a special city need he would like to work on, Mooney answered in one word: housing.
“I’d like to see more housing opportunities come up,” he said. “With our town growth, housing is difficult to come by.”
Mayor Scepaniak, who is a neighbor of Mooney’s in the Northland Addition in northeast St. Joseph, works as a firefighter, as does Mooney. It was Scepaniak, among others, who encouraged Mooney to apply for the vacant council seat.
Born in Little Canada, the son of Valerie and Stephen Mooney, Andrew attended grade school in Shoreview (near Little Canada). Later, he moved in with his grandparents in St. Paul so he could attend Cretin-Derham Hall High School in that city. He played football and rugby on the school’s teams.
After high school, Mooney enrolled at St. John’s University in 2018, earning a degree in 2022 in mobile business leadership, with a minor in accounting. He also played football as a fullback and also rugby, as he had in high school.
Mooney is an account manager for Bennett Motor Express, a St. Joseph branch office for that company, which is headquartered in McDonough, Ga.
During his university years, Mooney lived for two years on campus and became a firefighter for St. John’s. For the next two years he lived in St. Joseph in a rental house with seven other students. He volunteered in 2021 as a firefighter for the St. Joseph Fire and Rescue Department, of which he is proud to be a member. He has helped fight about a dozen fires and helped in the response to about 600 emergency calls, most of them involving vehicle accidents.
As a firefighter, Mooney was among 13 people (firefighters, police officers, school officials, paramedics) given Life Saving Awards last October at a city council meeting for saving a man’s life. The crisis happened July 8, 2024 at Little Saints Academy in St. Joseph when a man named 28-year-old Luke Stangler suddenly collapsed at the school. Stangler was dropping off his son at the school when the medical crisis occurred.
Instant teamwork saved his life through the use of CPR, a defibrillator and other emergency procedures. Mooney and the others were also honored at the Greater St. Cloud Public Safety Foundation’s annual awards banquet.
Mooney’s hobbies are golfing, hunting, fishing and spending quality time with his friends and his girlfriend.
