AUBURN — The city could begin negotiations Monday with a new fire chief, filling a position that’s been vacant since March 2010.

City Manager Clinton Deschene said he and a staff committee completed interviews with three candidates Wednesday. The committee was scheduled to meet Thursday to discuss its recommendation for the City Council.

“We’ll probably be reaching out to our top choice on Monday, and that’s what I intend to inform the council,” Deschene said. “We hope to be in touch and begin discussions on pay, benefits and the whole bit and see if they are truly as interested as they said they were.”

The hiring committee included Deschene, Human Resources Director Deb Grimmig, police Chief Phil Crowell and former Bangor fire Chief Jeff Cammack.

Deschene said he could not name the three top candidates. The three include a mix of people from Maine and from out of state.

“We had a great variety of applicants, and the three we got down to all had a high level of experience,” Deschene said. “All have had experience as a chief, all in similar-sized communities — some a little larger, some a little smaller. They covered the whole gamut.”

Chief Crowell said the position has been empty since Wayne Werts retired in March 2010.

“We originally had the position in the budget,” Crowell said. “We actually advertised for the replacement early on, but the process was stopped because of budget considerations. We considered having the department under a larger public safety component, but we’ve backed away from that.”

Deschene said each of the three candidates came to Auburn for the day, meeting with the committee and with Fire Department employees.

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