Sec. 28. Witness before council and committee—how attendance
secured.
The Council or any committee thereof when specially authorized
thereto, the Board of Police Commissioners and the
Board of Fire Commissioners, if there be such boards, shall have
the power to require the attendance of any person as a witness,
and the production by any person of all proper books and
papers when, in the investigation by such a body, such attendance
and evidence is necessary and proper.
Summons to attend as a witness or to produce books or
papers shall be in writing, signed by the presiding officer of
the body issuing the same, and shall be served by the Chief of
Police or a member of the force, in the same manner as a process
to commence an action at law is served; such witnesses shall
be sworn by the officer presiding at such investigation, and shall
be liable to the penalties for perjury or false testimony given
at such investigation. Any person failing or refusing to obey
such summons, or refusing to testify or to produce such books
or papers, may be summoned before the Mayor (or Police Justice)
of the city, and, upon failure to give a satisfactory excuse,
shall be fined in a sum not less than ten dollars nor more than
one hundred dollars, or imprisoned for a period of time not
exceeding thirty days. A person found guilty under this section
shall have the right of appeal, as in case of misdemeanor, to
the Corporation Court of the city. (Code, Sec. 1015g.)
