Mercer County Commissioner Kenneth A. Seamans was fit to be tied Tuesday.

Seamans had walked out about a third of the way through a 65-minute closed-door session between county officials and administrators and board members of the Mercer County Behavioral Health Commission, Inc. He said he had "had enough" of a discussion that centered on a new contract between the county and the commission.

"They say that the county's contract will cripple them where they can't do their job," Seamans said.

Asked how the commission board and administrators believed the contract would cripple them, Seamans said, "That isn't clear."

It seemed clear, however, to Dana E. Frankenburg, Behavioral Health's chief executive officer. He said the county's proposal would prove burdensome and costly to the private, nonprofit organization that assists local people with drug and alcohol, mental health and mental retardation needs.

"It compromises the ... board with undue, excessive restrictions, those that we do not even place on our private, nonprofit providers," Frankenburg said moments after Behavioral Health board members unanimously approved what they considered a watered-down version of the county's proposal. "It places some additional costs and liability considerations on this board," he said.

Frankenburg cited several parts of the county's proposal that were just "not acceptable." Among them, he said commissioners want:

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