Town officials are considering creating a local law requiring anyone looking to bury a time capsule to first register with the Town Clerk’s office.
Currently, officials are aware of two buried time capsules within their borders — a bicentennial time capsule buried in 1998 and another at Oxford High School.
According to Historical Society President Louise Burr, in addition to the town’s contributions to the future, there could be many more in Oxford, placed by local organizations, the boy scouts and area churches.
Burr sparked the time capsule initiative before the Historical Society three months ago citing Waterbury, Woodbury and Watertown as having difficulties locating capsules that were buried but not accurately documented.
“Trees get cut down and things get moved, and no one knows where anything is buried 100 years later,” she said.
Town Clerk Margaret Potts-West suggested an ordinance be drafted requiring organizations to register time capsule locations before they are buried.
Potts-West said the information provided by organizations would be indexed and available to the public.
She stressed maintaining public documents for a time capsule is important for the town’s continuity and future.
Potts-West also said the only way the town clerk would be permitted to keep those records would be through a state statute or a town ordinance.
“It is a good idea to keep those records,” she said. “An ordinance would be the only way of making it a requirement.”
Mary Ann Drayton-Rogers asked the Historical Society and the Town Clerk to start working on details for a draft ordinance, which would be followed by presentations to town counsel and Board of Selectmen. The proposed ordinance would then go to a town meeting for approval.
Republican candidate for First Selectman David Haversat said he does not think an ordinance is the way to go.
Haversat suggested it would be more beneficial for those organizations to volunteer the information to the town historian to be placed in a registry.
“An ordinance would require organizations to provide the information to the town,” he said. “Do we really need to be creating another law, I don’t think so.”
The Historical Society and the Town Clerk’s office held a press conference last week asking residents to volunteer time capsule information if they have it.
Organizations wanting to provide time capsule information can contact Town Clerk Margaret Potts-West, (203) 888‑2543 ext. 3024.
