ANDOVER – About 70 people attending Tuesday night’s selectmen meeting were audibly dismayed to learn about two recent security breaches when personal information about hundreds of residents and 49 employees was released.

One breach was labeled an accident, the other, a theft. One involved wage reports for employees and fire department volunteers that were accidentally given out. The other pertained to stolen voter registration cards and a voter registration list for hundreds of Andover residents. More than 850 people call the town home. The state says the town has 675 voters.

The cards and list were reported as thefts to the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office, which is investigating, Town Clerk Elaine Morton told selectmen on Tuesday night.

Selectman Hope Peterson said locks will be changed at the town office, no meetings will be allowed to be held there as was done in the past, and a security camera could be installed.

“With the new camera and new locks, hopefully, this is going to alleviate this,” Peterson said.

Morton said that information on the cards and lists included people’s names, physical and mailing addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, driver’s license numbers, and the last four digits of Social Security numbers.

Resident Sid Pew took issue with selectmen regarding a letter that was mailed to townspeople on Monday, advising them of the situation and that Social Security numbers had gone out.

Peterson explained that prior to being elected a selectman at town meeting in March, Susan Merrow asked for a report regarding town employee salaries for a comparison report.

But instead of Merrow arriving at the town office to get the wage report, her husband Kevin Scott arrived and was given the document. Later that day, town office workers realized that information that was supposed to be private was inadvertently left on the wage reports.

Peterson said that when contacted that day, Scott, who was absent Tuesday night, returned the document to the town office and didn’t make copies.

Merrow confirmed this when pointedly asked about it by Road Commissioner Marshall Meisner.

“My concern is that you released this to a third party, especially with the voter registration list,” Pew said. “I personally have had a credit card fraud. As am employer, I’m very, very guarded with Social Security information.”

Another woman, a town employee, grilled the board about why she wasn’t notified before Monday after the breaches happened in March.

“My Social Security number has been out there for a month,” she said.

“It was just a mistake,” Peterson answered.

Selectmen Chairman Jeff Rainey said that as soon as he became aware of it, he initiated a process to change town policies to prevent future problems.

Then, when asked if anyone would be reprimanded, both Peterson and Rainey said no.

“I feel a little violated,” Meisner said. “If someone comes into the town office for records about me, I should be notified. I personally would like affidavits signed by the two people involved that no copies would be made.”

“Everybody in town’s been violated if the voter registration list went out,” resident Wayne Delano said. “It’s a concern we all should have. The best thing that people can do now is to check their credit report often. The whole town’s been compromised, so, you’ve been compromise twice, Marshall.”