Addison Township Ousts Official Hired Just Months Before

ELMHURST, IL – The Addison Township board in May ousted the township administrator, Bill Velazquez, who was hired just a few months before.

On Jan. 2, the township's finance director, Katalyna Thomas, offered the $135,000 position to Velazquez, who has faced sexism claims elsewhere.

But after a closed session on May 13, the township board voted 4-1 to do away with the position, which it had never approved. The lone dissenter was Supervisor Bobby Hernandez.

This was a split in the township's all-Democratic leadership. In April 2025, Democrats swept the historically Republican township, as happened in other DuPage County townships.

Addison Township includes northern Elmhurst.

Hernandez, who supervises Thomas, did not return a message for comment Monday morning.

Patch also left a message with township Trustee Joey Moore. No contact information could be found for Velazquez and the other three trustees, Max Ashrafi, Titus Dare and Debbie Sandstrom.

Last August, Hernandez announced that the township was laying off 30 percent of its staff. He accused his predecessor, Dennis Reboletti, of mismanaging the township and paying "bloated" salaries.

Hernandez's announcement at the time was livestreamed, an event that a public relations firm advertised. Velazquez also spoke.

Shortly after the Democrats took office last year, they hired Velazquez's Veritas Strategies as a management consultant.

Under the contract, the firm was to get $20,000 a month through the end of 2025. Velazquez got the administrator's contract the day after New Year's.

In January 2019, the New York Times ran a front-page story about allegations of sexual harassment in Democrat Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign.

The paper wrote about how a female campaign worker brought an allegation to Velazquez, a manager on Sanders' Latino team, that a fellow worker ran his hand through her hair in a "sexual way" and continued to grab and touch her for the rest of the day.

The Times reported that the woman and another witness said Velazquez responded, "I bet you would have liked it if he were younger." Then Velazquez laughed, according to the account.

Velazquez told the Times that he did not recall making a flippant remark, but said he took it seriously, reported the matter to his supervisor and followed up with a memo two weeks later.

Shortly after the Times story, Velazquez became the chief of staff for the newly elected Rep. Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, a Chicago Democrat.

But he resigned soon afterward, with the congressman's office saying the aide did not want to be a distraction.

Under state law, townships have three mandatory functions – maintaining roads, assessing properties for tax purposes and providing what is known as "general assistance." Townships can also provide a variety of social services.