Scarborough councilors will be interviewing six candidates this week to replace the retiring town manager, Ron Owens.

The Town Council has received 49 resumes in response to advertisements placed in the International City Managers Association magazine and other media, and has selected six for interviews on Aug 5-6. Councilors are expected to select the most promising candidates from those interviews during an executive session Aug. 7, said Council Chairman Jeff Messer.

Finalists will be asked to return for a second round of interviews on Aug. 19, after which the council hopes to choose a new town manager in an executive session Aug. 20. Messer said that if all goes well, the town will spend about two weeks negotiating a contract with Owens’ replacement and announce the new manager at the Sept. 3 council meeting.

It is hoped that the new manager will start in mid-October and spend about a week working with Owens, who plans to retire to Florida with his wife.

Earlier this summer, the council hired consultant Michael Wing – who assisted with the town manager search that lead to Owens’ hiring eight years ago – to assist in finding Owens’ replacement.

Messer said Wing sorted applicants into three tiers – seven extremely well-qualified candidates, 19 somewhat well-qualified candidates, and 23 that did not meet the education and experience qualifications outlined by the Town Council. The council reviewed the resumes of all of the tier 1 and tier 2 candidates, and after discussion invited five of the tier 1 and one of the tier 2 candidates to interview Aug. 5-6.

Messer said that although many of the applicants were from Maine, many others were from out of state. Of the six selected for interviews, four work in Maine and two do not.

Messer said that all qualified candidates currently work in public administration, as town managers, county managers or in a comparable position.

Councilors are hoping to find an administrator who has many of the same skills as Owens, whom they describe as calming, ethical, a mentor and a consensus-builder. Owens had more than 30 years’ experience as a city administrator or assistant administrator when he was hired by Scarborough.