Section 8. Witnesses may be summoned to attend and testify and to produce books and papers at a hearing before a city council, or either branch thereof, or before a joint or special committee of the same or of either branch thereof, or before a board of selectmen, a board of police commissioners, a fire commissioner or a board of fire commissioners, a commissioner of public safety, a school board, the alcoholic beverages control commission established by section forty-three of chapter six, a licensing board or licensing authorities, as defined in section one of chapter one hundred and thirty-eight, a board of registrars of voters, the police commissioner or election commissioners of Boston, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, the state racing commission, the parole board or a board of appeals designated or appointed under section thirty of chapter forty, as to matters within their authority; and such witnesses shall be summoned in the same manner, be paid the same fees and be subject to the same penalties for default, as witnesses in civil cases before the courts. The presiding officer of such council, or of either branch thereof, or a member of any such committee, board or commission, or any such commissioner, may administer oaths to witnesses who appear before such council, branch thereof, committee, board, commission or commissioner, respectively.