City Official Not Officially on Leave--He Just Left City : Vacancy: Seal Beach planning commissioner Joseph Orsini moves to Oklahoma without telling anyone at City Hall.

A well-known planning commissioner and former restaurant owner left town this month to begin a new life in Oklahoma.

But Joseph Orsini didn’t wait around for a farewell party. Actually, his departure came as a shock to city officials who had no idea he planned to move out of the state and vacate his position.

Councilwoman Marilyn Bruce Hastings--who appointed the 49-year-old businessman to the commission 2 1/2 years ago--discovered that Orsini was gone last week when she made a courtesy call to his apartment hoping to discuss city business.

Her first indication that something was wrong came when she arrived and found his door blocked by an imposing metal lock box.

“I was stunned. I was going to knock on his door and here was this huge lock,” Hastings said Wednesday. “I just stood there. I couldn’t believe it.”

It didn’t take long for Hastings to realize that Orsini was no longer living at the apartment. She immediately headed to City Hall to place an item on the council agenda removing him from office.

At its Jan. 11 meeting, the City Council voted unanimously to vacate the position. But the mystery surrounding Orsini’s departure remains.

Hastings said she didn’t know where Orsini was until late last week when she got a call from one of his acquaintances saying that he had taken a job at an Oklahoma auto agency.

“We have a network (of residents) here. I don’t know how they do it. Their access to information is incredible,” Hastings said. “I had no information on finding out where he was . . . and then I got the call.”

Hastings and other city officials declined to speculate about why Orsini moved. At least one person told Hastings he left for personal reasons, she said.

Orsini was a familiar face in Seal Beach’s Oldtown district, where a few years ago he helped open an art gallery.

For several months, he owned a restaurant on Ocean Avenue that he transformed into a quaint cafe before selling it, Hastings said. More recently, Orsini had worked for a jewelry company, according to colleagues on the Planning Commission.

Orsini missed two commission meetings in December, after telling city officials that he was going “back East” for the holidays.

“This has caught me (by surprise). I didn’t know anything about it,” fellow Planning Commissioner Jim Sharp said when told of Orsini’s move. “As far as I knew, he was supposed to come back” after his vacation.

Sharp described Orsini as a “conscientious” and well-informed commissioner. “I didn’t agree with him at certain times, but he did a lot of research and knew about the different issues.”

Nonetheless, Hastings said, she was dismayed that Orsini left town without informing the city.

“He had an obligation and responsibility to tell me,” she said. “It’s irresponsible for someone to do something like that.”