HERMON – The Town Council on Wednesday authorized the town manager to seek bids for an estimated $200,000 repair to Black Stream Road.

Given the go-ahead, Town Manager Clint Deshane said bids could come in by early April, and repairs to the shoulder of the road completed by July 1. The project would be substantial, amounting to what the town would spend on projects in the next three years, Deshane said.

The shoulder along about 1.1 miles of the road had loosened and town officials suspected that cable put in two or three years ago by an Internet company had weakened the righthand shoulder heading north. Temporary repairs were done last fall to carry the road through the winter until more permanent repairs could be made this year.

The section of the road will essentially be replaced, with new catch basins, drains and ditching put in place.

“We’re digging it up and putting a new road in,” Deshane said after the council meeting.

While the council took action on the road, it voted to take no action, at least for now, on making changes to its constable deputy program.

The town operates its own Police Department through the auspices of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department with one full-time deputy constable and seven part-time officers. Combined, they work about 150 hours a week, although some of that is overlapping and two officers are on duty. That concerned council Chairman Louis “Buzzy” LaChance.

LaChance said he received a complaint from a businessman whose alarm had gone off over a recent weekend and no one responded. The complaint prompted LaChance to ask Constable William Laughlin to look at those times when there were two officers on at the same time.

Addressing the unanswered alarm issue, Laughlin said that it’s sometimes difficult to fill the schedule with part-time staff, and when there is no Hermon deputy on, the coverage is shared between the Sheriff’s Department and the state police. In this case, the state police didn’t answer the alarm call, Laughlin said.

With 57 percent of the calls coming in between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. each day and the town concerned about reducing speeders and other issues, Laughlin said that two on-duty deputies are needed during the days.

Laughlin said that Hermon was getting the best bang for its buck and that he was happy with the way things were.

“I’m not, that’s why it’s [on the agenda] Bill,” LaChance said.

Ultimately, the five members of the council present voted to take no action, and it’s expected the matter will be taken up in subsequent budget discussions.