Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

NATCHEZ — Natchez City Hall closed unexpectedly Thursday for new flooring to be installed.

The closure could continue Friday and the building could reopen as early as Monday.

Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson said he’d hoped the renovations wouldn’t disrupt normal day-to-day activities at City Hall, but that has proven not to be the case.

“A few people are still working there but some are working remotely,” he said. “Now we’re in the final stages of the inside renovation and installing wooden floors in the downstairs portion of City Hall.”

The City of Natchez received a Mississippi Department of Archives and History grant to replace the roof on the building, but additional funds left over allowed the city to do inside renovations to replace flooring and repaint the building.

Gibson said he expects the work to be mostly complete by Monday with the exception of bathrooms. All should be done within the next week, he said.

“It has been rather unexpected, he said. “We were hoping this stage could take place without interrupting things too badly, but that has proven to be difficult. We ask citizens to bare with us during this inconvenience.”