AUBURN — Councilors will pick a new colleague at the Oct. 3 meeting from a list of five applicants.

The deadline for candidates to replace Eric Samson as at-large councilor passed Tuesday, and five candidates made the list.

Applicants for the seat are Jason Levesque, of  264 Beech Hill Road, Kathryn Begg, of 15 Drummond St., Elliot Epstein, of 8 Cushman Place, James Wellehan, 61 Woodlawn Ave., and Stanwood “Joe” Gray, 1200 Sopers Mill Road.

City Clerk Roberta Fogg said the sitting councilors are scheduled to hear from those five candidates at their 5:30 p.m. workshop before the Oct. 3 meeting.

They’re scheduled to discuss the appointment in an executive session during their regular meeting, then come back and pick a successor to Samson.

“We’ll swear that person in at that meeting, and they’ll take their seat,” Fogg said. “It’ll be just like that person was elected.”

Councilors began taking applications last week after Mayor Dick Gleason declared Samson’s seat vacant. It was the third consecutive meeting Samson missed.

Samson, a police officer with the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department, is attending  the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in Vassalboro through Dec. 16. He notified city councilors and Gleason about the change in an Aug. 5 letter and asked for a leave of absence, excusing him from the council’s remaining meetings.

The city’s charter lets councilors miss three meetings in a row before they are expected to give up their seats. The charter also lets the City Council appoint someone to fill a vacant council seat if a councilor resigns less than six months before the term is scheduled to end.

Sitting councilors have fewer than four meetings left in their terms, including the Oct. 3 meeting. The municipal election, which includes a ballot for all seven City Council seats, is scheduled for Nov. 8.

“If there is a recount for any of the seats, it could push the swearing-in ceremony back a week,” Fogg said. “In that case, they could have one more meeting after the election. Otherwise, there should be two more meetings after Tuesday’s meeting.”

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