§ 154-297. Jurisdiction and authority of pension board.

(a)

No participant entitled to benefits under this division and no beneficiary of such participant shall be granted a pension until the judgment of a majority of the members of the pension board created by this division, which judgment shall be entitled in the case, duly entered upon the minutes of said pension board, and shall be binding on the applicant and on Fulton County as parties thereto. The judgment of said pension board shall be based upon the sworn testimony of witnesses, or documentary evidence produced before each board, and the investigations of such pension board shall in every case cover all facts and circumstances material to the fight of the applicant to obtain a pension and the amount thereof.

(b)

If, during the course of such investigation, either the applicant or Fulton County shall demand arbitration upon any question of disability of a living person, such arbitration shall be granted by referring the question of disability to three physicians licensed to practice medicine in the State of Georgia. One physician so licensed shall be named by the party making the demand by opposite party shall within five days, likewise name his physician, and the two, so chosen, shall select a third physician. Such physicians shall thereupon examine the applicant and determine whether or not the applicant is disabled as claimed. The decision of the majority of physicians so selected shall be conclusive upon all parties on the question of disability and the extent thereof and shall be incorporated in the judgment of the pension board as a part thereof. Each party shall pay the physician chosen by him or it, and the expense of the third physician shall be paid equally by both parties. Payments for Fulton County shall be made from revenue funds.

(c)

Either the applicant or Fulton County may, within 30 days from the judgment of the pension board, apply to the Superior Court of Fulton County for a writ of certiorari, which writ said superior court shall have jurisdiction to grant, in the same manner and upon the same terms and conditions that such writs are now provided by law.

(d)

The secretary or any member of said pension board is authorized to swear witnesses testifying before such board. Either party shall be entitled upon application to said pension board to compulsory process for the attendance of witnesses or the production of documents, by subpoena or subpoena duces tecum, signed by the secretary, and bearing teste in the name of the pension board, which subpoenas shall be directed and served, and shall be effective to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents before said board, in the same manner as now provided by law for subpoenas issued by clerks of superior court. Either party may likewise require the production of documents by the opposite party upon notice to produce as now provided for superior court trials. Witnesses appearing and testifying upon trials before said pension board shall be entitled to the same compensation as now provided by law for witnesses appearing and testifying in the Superior Court of Fulton County. Fees of witnesses testifying before said pension board shall be paid from said pension fund. Any witness refusing to produce, appear, or answer, without legal excuse, a question lawfully propounded to him, material to an issue before said board, shall be guilty of contempt and, upon certification of said act by any court commissioner serving at such trial, or by said pension board, the judge of said superior court shall punish such witness for contempt in the same manner as though committed before him.

(e)

A majority of the members of said pension board shall constitute a quorum, and a quorum of said pension board shall be necessary for the transaction of any business or the conduct of any hearing before said board. Rules and regulations heretofore established by the Board of Commissioners of Fulton County for the administration and enforcement of this division, not inconsistent herewith, shall remain in force and effect and shall govern applications to and any procedure before said pension board, with the right and power in the pension board hereby created to establish new rules and regulations not inconsistent herewith governing matters within its jurisdiction.

(Code 1983, § 24-3-37)