RUMFORD – Six candidates for town manager will begin the interview process on Monday.

The Town Manager Hiring Committee began its search for a new administrative leader Thursday afternoon when they met with Maine Municipal Association’s Dave Barritt. The municipal organization had pared down the 24 applicants to 14 for consideration, said selectmen’s Chairman Jim Rinaldo, although the committee also reviewed the 10 removed from the qualified list.

“They did their job,” Rinaldo said.

Applications came from West Virginia, North Carolina, New York, Hawaii and Maine, including four or five from within a 50-mile radius of Rumford. Both women who applied are among the six to be interviewed.

Three of the semifinalists will be interviewed on Monday, March 12. The remaining three will be interviewed on Tuesday, March 20. The hiring committee, made up of selectmen, Planning Board member Brad Adley, Finance Committee Chairwoman Jolan Ippolito, River Valley Growth Council Director Rosie Bradley and SAD 43 board member David McKivergan, will then meet to discuss which candidates will be invited back for second interviews.

Those interviews are expected to take place in late March or early April.

Rinaldo said the first interviews of out-of-state applicants will likely be conducted by telephone, unless the applicant wants to fly at their own expense to Rumford.

He said the pool of applicants included many who had some of the skills the board is looking for, including grant-writing and economic development experience.

Although not all of the 14 applicants reviewed by the hiring committee had town management experience, Rinaldo said they had sufficient alternative management experience to make them viable candidates.

Hopes are to have a new town manager in place in April.

The new person will replace former Town Manager Stephen Eldridge, who left in January because he did not meet the town’s residency requirement. He had served for just over two years.

During the last search for a town manager in 2004, the town received 33 applications for the position.