Choudrant back in business

CHOUDRANT — The Village of Choudrant is back in business, though still with a limited staff.

Village Hall was closed for a week after five of the town’s six employees were diagnosed with COVID-19. The offices reopened Thursday morning, but three of the workers are still out, Mayor Bill Sanderson said Thursday.

“We are on the mend,” Sanderson said. “We have a very bright light, and we are at the mouth of the tunnel. It’s looking good.”

Two of the recovered public works employees were reading water meters on Thursday and today, and the third, an administrative worker, is catching up on work at Village Hall, Sanderson said.

The village is slowly taking back in-house services, like garbage pick-up, that were contracted out when the COVID forced the shutdown. Sanderson said he hopes customers’ water bills are ready by Monday afternoon.

Customers will not be charged a late fee for the delayed bills.

Sanderson, who’s been mayor of the community of about 1,000 people for 30 years, said village officials relied on their disaster mitigation plan to help get them through.

The plan was written for natural disasters, never anticipating a pandemic that would shut everything down. But with a few tweaks, the plan worked, Sanderson said.

Meanwhile, Ruston Mayor Ronny Walker continues to recover from his bout with a breakthrough case of COVID. Walker has been working from home since his release from Northern Louisiana Medical Center on July 28.

He said he anticipates returning to City Hall on Monday for at least several hours a day. As of deadline Thursday, Walker was waiting to receive an all-clear from his doctor.