This Advisory Opinion concerns the following issue as formulated from facts and/or circumstances furnished by a requestor. The Commission approved this opinion on May 12, 2000, basing its approval solely on the facts and circumstances stated herein.
 

May the employees of a business that has contracted with the county to process all the commitments in the county be sworn in as deputy chancery clerks so the employees can attest to commitment documents and swear in witnesses at commitment hearings?
 

State law restricts the Mississippi Ethics Commission to interpreting and issuing opinions on Sections 25-4-101 through 25-4-119, 1972 Mississippi Code Annotated and Article IV, Section 109, Mississippi Constitution of 1890. Therefore, this opinion does not address the Mississippi laws outside the Commission's jurisdiction nor the governmental entity's internal rules and regulations.
 

The pertinent conflict of interest laws to be considered here are:
 

Code Section 25-4-103(a), (c), (f)(i)(ii), (g)(i), (h), (k)(i)(ii) and (p)(i)(ii)(iii) states:
 

"(a) 'Authority' means any component unit of a governmental entity.
 

(c) 'Business' means any corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, firm, enterprise, franchise, association, organization, holding company, self-employed individual, joint stock company, receivership, trust or other legal entity or undertaking organized for economic gain, a nonprofit corporation or other such entity, association or organization receiving public funds.

(f) 'Contract' means:
 

(i) Any agreement to which the government is a party; or
 

(ii) Any agreement on behalf of the government which involves the payment of public funds.
 

(g) 'Governmental' means the state and all political entities thereof, both collectively and separately, including but not limited to:
 

(i) Counties.

(h) 'Governmental entity' means the state, a county, a municipality or any other separate political subdivision authorized by law to exercise a part of the sovereign power of the state.
 

(k) 'Material financial interest' means a personal and pecuniary interest, direct or indirect, accruing to a public servant or spouse, either individually or in combination with each other. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the following shall not be deemed to be a material financial interest with respect to a business with which a public servant may be associated:
 

(i) Ownership of any interest of less than ten percent (10%) in a business where the aggregate annual net income to the public servant therefrom is less than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00);
 

(ii) Ownership of any interest of less than two percent (2%) in a business where the aggregate annual net income to the public servant therefrom is less than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00).
 

(p) 'Public servant' means:
 

(i) Any elected or appointed official of the government;
 

(ii) Any officer, director, commissioner, supervisor, chief, head, agent or employee of the government or any agency thereof, or of any public entity created by or under the laws of the State of Mississippi or created by an agency or governmental entity thereof, any of which is funded by public funds or which expends, authorizes or recommends the use of public funds; or
 

(iii) Any individual who receives a salary, per diem or expenses paid in whole or in part out of funds authorized to be expended by the government."
 

Code Section 25-4-105(3)(a) states:
 

"(3) No public servant shall:
 

(a) Be a contractor, subcontractor or vendor with the governmental entity of which he is a member, officer, employee or agent, other than in his contract of employment, or have a material financial interest in any business which is a contractor, subcontractor or vendor with the governmental entity of which he is a member, officer, employee or agent."
 

Pertinent facts and circumstances provided by the requestor, absent identifying data, are set forth as follows and considered a part of this opinion.
 

The County Board of Supervisors has a contract with Business to manage the County Commitment Holding Facility. The scope of services performed by Business has recently been broadened to include administrative responsibility for complete processing of all commitments. Commitment files will be maintained in my office, with Business being responsible for dealing with families, arranging hearings, placement of the patient after the hearing, etc.
 

There are certain documents involved in the commitment process that must be attested by either the chancery clerk or a deputy chancery clerk, and witnesses must be sworn in at the commitment hearings. Can I, as Chancery Clerk, deputize one or more employees and/or officers of Business? There would be no salary paid by the clerk to these deputy clerks and they would be involved in no other duties of my office. I feel that this action will expedite the commitment process in County.
 

Based solely on the facts and circumstances presented by the requestor, the Commission's opinion is as follows.
 

Code Section 25-4-105(3)(a), cited above, prohibits a public servant, including a deputy chancery clerk, from having a material financial interest in a business that is a contractor with the governmental entity employing the public servant.
 

The business that has contracted with the county to provide the services of managing the commitment holding facility and of providing the administrative processing of all commitments is a contractor with the county for purposes of Code Section 25-4-105(3)(a).
 

Also, the chancery clerk's office is within the general county government as it is subject to the general budgeting and funding authority of the board of supervisors. Therefore, the chancery clerk's office and the county board of supervisors are within the same authority of the county government entity for purposes of Code Section 25-4-105(3)(a).
 

The employees of the business contracting with the county as deputy chancery clerks will be appointed officials of the county and employees of the county government. Therefore, the employees will be public servants of the county as defined in the above cited Code Section 25-4-103(p)(i)(ii).
 

Therefore, Code Section 25-4-105(3)(a) will prohibit the employees of the business that is contracting with the county to provide the above described commitment services from being appointed as deputy chancery clerks if the employees have a material financial interest in the business contracting with the county.
 

A material financial interest is defined in the above cited Code Section 25-4-103(k)(i)(ii). Specifically, a material financial interest is an ownership of 10% or more; an ownership interest from 2% to less than10% with an aggregate annual net income of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) or more; or, an ownership interest of less than 2% with an aggregate annual net income of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) or more.
 

Ronald E. Crowe

Executive Director