(A) There is hereby created the board of housing appeals which shall consist of five voting members who shall be appointed by the city council, which shall designate one of the five members as chairman. The members shall receive no compensation from the city. Each of the five members shall be a qualified elector of the city and shall neither hold nor be a candidate for any other public office or position. One representative shall be appointed from the financial profession, one representative shall be appointed from the building and trade industry, one representative shall be appointed from the legal profession, one representative shall be appointed from the field of social services and one representative shall be appointed at large. Members of the board shall serve for terms of two years. Vacancies in an unexpired term shall be filled by the council by appointment for the remainder of the term.
(B) Three members of the board shall constitute a quorum and the board shall act by a majority vote. The chairman shall have the same voting rights as the other four members.
(C) The chief building official, head of the fire prevention bureau and the Permits and Inspections Department shall be named and appointed by the city council as ex officio members of the board, but the three members shall not have voting rights.
(D) The board shall have the power and shall be required to hear and decide appeals where it is alleged there has been an error in any order or decision arrived at by the Permits and Inspections Department in the enforcement of this chapter.
(E) The board shall have the power to adopt rules and regulations for the conducting of its hearings to issue subpoenas and subpoenas duces tecum to witnesses when reasonably necessary to obtain pertinent evidence and any member of the board shall have authority to administer oaths.
(F) The board of appeals upon receipt of a petition for hearing on the form furnished by the Permits and Inspections Department shall set a time and place for such hearing and shall give the petitioner written notice thereof. Such hearing shall be commenced not later than 15 days after the date on which the petition was filed.
(1964 Code, § 12A-11)