Two other Montana Rescue Mission managers have been fired amid the investigation into complaints at the nonprofit.
On Friday, the shelter’s board announced it dismissed Executive Director Matt Lundgren.
Martin “Tito” Albarran, 39, the shelter coordinator and Vanessa Bond, 27, a program coordinator, also have been fired.
The shakeup comes after the MRM board hired an outside firm to investigate complaints about management at the shelter.
Following the dismissals, past employees have come forward to speak out about problems they saw working under the leadership.
Sarah Kreiter, who worked for about two years as a teacher at Friendship House, recalls Lundgren sharply correcting preschoolers when they would greet him as “Mr. Matt,” snapping back “it’s reverend.”
While she loved her work, she described Lundgren as “absolutely dreadful.” Kreiter said she saw him often belittling staff behind closed doors, only to turn on the charm to impress donors and other important dignitaries in public.
“It was always very clear, he was all about the money and the power,” she said. “It was like working for a little man with a Napoleon complex.”
Lundgren also had a reputation for making women on staff and teenage girls feel uncomfortable in the way he approached them or looked at them or with the comments he made, Kreiter said.
Lundgren did not return calls for comment.
Bailey Brown, a former case manager at MRM, said Lundgren hired or promoted workers who appeared unqualified for their positions, she said.
She pointed to Lundgren’s hiring of clinical supervisor Nathan Church, who, shortly before coming to MRM, had had his licenses to work as an addiction counselor and social worker suspended by the state for “dishonest, corrupt and fraudulent” behavior after he had a sexual relationship with a client, state records show.
The Montana Board of Behavioral Health required him to complete therapy and ethics training. He was supposed to work under another licensed clinician to show he could safely care for clients before his licenses could be reinstated during a two-year probation.
Church did not respond to requests for comment.
Catherine Card, a longtime Billings housing advocate and pastor, said women from the shelter sometimes chose to shower at her church because MRM workers made them feel uncomfortable and unsafe.
Brown said she worries that those most in need are falling through the cracks because of the shelter’s management.
She has seen MRM staff put people out on the street for the smallest of missteps, she said. She remembers an elderly woman who had dementia being turned out for forgetting to do a chore and a diabetic man who was ousted for taking an extra pillow that he needed to elevate his feet.
Brown said staff feared the retaliation that came with taking concerns up the chain of command and they didn’t see the board making changes as a result.
“They’re buddies, not a board,” she said.
Eric Peterson, a board member and Billings attorney, said staff complaints spurred the investigation. He said board members took seriously their duty to investigate issues and address failures.
Peterson acknowledged the leadership’s responsibility to be good stewards of the public’s considerable investment in the organization.
Earlier this year, MRM opened a new $25 million campus in downtown Billings. The building now has a 100-bed emergency shelter, separate rooms for residents who have chosen to stay sober and enroll in long-term recovery programs and 29 apartments. The expansion also added space for counseling, addiction treatment, childcare, education and job training programs.
Peterson said stays at the emergency shelter are no longer capped at 14 days and people are allowed in, even if they’re under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
“We don’t want anyone to feel that we don’t have a welcoming place for those who need our help,” he said. “And we want to make sure we’re benefiting the entire community.”
Moving forward, Peterson said, the board plans to focus on how it can maximize the nonprofit’s resources to better support clients and expand the services it offers to help address the growing need in Billings.
“I want this to be a new dawn for the mission,” he said.
Love
0
Funny
0
Wow
0
Sad
0
Angry
0
Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox!
Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.
* I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Amy Nile
City/County Government Reporter
Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!
Your notification has been saved.
There was a problem saving your notification.
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Followed notifications
Please log in to use this feature
Log In
Don’t have an account? Sign Up Today