This Advisory Opinion concerns the following issues 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.
 

ISSUE 1. May the attorney for the county board of supervisors simultaneously serve as a Special Master in a lunacy hearing?
 

ISSUE 2. May the attorney for the county board of supervisors simultaneously serve as an appointed counsel in the county youth court?
 

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), (e), (f)(i)(ii), (g)(i), (iv) and (v), (h), (l) and (p)(i)(ii)(iii) states:
 

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

(e) 'Compensation' mean money or thing of value received, or to be received, from any person for services rendered.
 

(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;
 

(iv) All courts; and

(v) Any department, agency, board, commission, institution, instrumentality, or legislative or administrative body of the state, counties or municipalities created by statute, ordinance or executive order including all units that expend public funds.
 

(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.
 

(l) 'Pecuniary benefit' means benefit in the form of money, property, commercial interests or anything else the primary significance of which is economic gain. Expenses associated with social occasions afforded public servants shall not be deemed a pecuniary benefit.
 

(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(1), (3)(a) and (4)(b)(h) states:
 

"(1) No public servant shall use his official position to obtain pecuniary benefit for himself other than that compensation provided for by law, or to obtain pecuniary benefit for any relative or any business with which he is associated.
 

(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.
 

(4) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (3) of this section, a public servant or his relative:
 

(b) May be a contractor or vendor with any authority of the governmental entity other than the authority of the governmental entity of which he is a member, officer, employee or agent or have a material financial interest in a business which is a contractor or vendor with any authority of the governmental entity other than the authority of the governmental entity of which he is a member, officer, employee or agent where such contract is let to the lowest and best bidder after competitive bidding and three (3) or more legitimate bids are received or where the goods, services or property involved are reasonably available from two (2) or fewer commercial sources, provided such transactions comply with the public purchases laws.
 

(h) May be employed by or receive compensation from an authority of the governmental entity other than the authority of the governmental entity of which the public servant is an officer or employee."
 

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

I was recently hired as attorney for the Board of Supervisors. I presently serve as Special Master in lunacy hearings in Chancery and am paid on a per case basis. Additionally, I do defense work in Youth Court and am paid on a per case basis from county funds.
 

In your opinion are these multiple roles in conflict?
 

The Commission formally adopts Advisory Opinions No. 99-048-E, No. 96-025-E and 95-139-E in response to this request and by attachment incorporates them into this opinion.
 

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

ISSUE 1. The Commission understands that the appointment of a Special Master in a lunacy case is primarily the same as in the appointment of a youth court referee/judge as addressed in the attached Advisory Opinion No. 95-139-E.⁽¹⁾
 

The employing authority for the county board attorney is the board of supervisors and the appointing authority for a Special Master is the Chancellor. Also, the county board attorney's salary is set by the county board of supervisors and the Special Master's compensation is set by the Chancellor.
 

Therefore, the employing and appointing entities being separate authorities results in the requestor's simultaneous holding of the positions of attorney for the board of supervisors and as Special Master in a lunacy hearing not being prohibited by Code Section 25-4-105(3)(a), cited above, as the exception in Code Section 25-4-105(4)(h), cited above, applies.

Notwithstanding the above, the requestor should remain keenly aware of the above cited Code Section 25-4-105(1). The requestor should totally and completely recuse himself from any matter coming before the county board of supervisors that concerns the chancellor and/or a lunacy case and from any lunacy case that concerns the members of the board of supervisors.

Code Section 25-4-105(1) prohibits public servants from using their official positions to obtain a pecuniary benefit for themselves, a relative or a business with which they are associated.
 

In order to avoid using their official positions to obtain a pecuniary benefit, the public servants must totally and completely recuse themselves from subject matters providing the pecuniary interests.
 

A total and complete recusal requires that the public servant not only avoid debating, discussing, or taking action on the subject matter during the official meeting, but also avoid discussing the subject matter with board members, staff or any other person prior to and after the official meeting. This includes casual comments, as well as detail discussions, made in person, by telephone or by any other means.
 

Also in order to properly recuse oneself from a matter, the public servant must leave the room or area where such discussions, considerations and/or actions take place. The minutes of the governing entity's board should state the public servant left the meeting by showing him or her absent for that matter.
 

ISSUE 2. The Commission finds that the state conflict of interest laws apply in the same manner to a board attorney for the county board of supervisors serving as an indigent counsel in the county youth court as they apply to an attorney in the board attorney's firms serving as a guardian as litem in the county youth court or a part-time public defender or indigent counsel in any other legal proceeding as addressed in the attached Advisory Opinions No. 99-048-E and No. 96-025-E.⁽²⁾
 

This finding is based on the prohibition set forth in the above cited Code Section 25-4-105(3)(a). Code Section 25-4-105(3)(a) prohibits payments by the county accruing to the board attorney or the board attorney's firm for services as a youth court indigent counsel just as for services as a youth court guardian ad litem and/or a part-time public defender or an indigent's counsel in other legal proceedings.
 

In this instance, the only applicable exception to a violation of Code Section 25-4-105(3)(a) is found in the above cited Code Section 25-4-105(4)(b). As set forth in Code Section 25-4-105(4)(b), payments accruing to the board attorney and/or the board attorney's firm for services paid with funds authorized by the board of supervisors can only be allowed if the services were reasonably available from two (2) or fewer sources.
 

Therefore for the same reasons stated in the above referenced opinions, a board attorney for the county board of supervisors who accepts payment from county funds for services as an indigent counsel in the county youth court violates Code Section 25-4-105(3)(a), unless the exception set forth in Code Section 25-4-105(4)(b) can be applied to the particular circumstance in question.
 

Even though not subject to interpretation by the Commission, the requestor is also advised to review the prohibitions imposed by Code Section 43-21-205.
 

Specifically Code Section 43-21-205, in part, provides that "no salaried officer of the state, county or any municipality, nor any youth court counselor, nor any witness other than an expert witness shall be entitled to receive any fee for any service rendered to the youth court or for attendance in the youth court in any proceedings under this chapter."
 

Ronald E. Crowe

Executive Director

1. See Rules of Civil Procedure. Rule 53. Masters, Referees, and Commissioners. 53(a): "The court may appoint one or more persons in each county to be masters of court, and the court in which any action is pending may appoint a special master therein." "The master shall receive a reasonable compensation for services rendered, as fixed by law or as allowed by the court and taxed in the costs and collected in the same manner as the fees of the clerk.

2. See §19-9-96 and §42-21-557, 1972 Mississippi Code Annotated (amended).