The commissioners shall preserve in a neatly bound book a record of all their acts and of all the rules and regulations adopted by them for the direction and government of pilots. They shall designate one of their number as chairman and cause a record thereof to be made. They shall also preserve upon their records a list of the names of all persons appointed pilots by them, as well as a list of the names of those whose licenses have been suspended or revoked or who have been retired. All persons interested shall have access to and be permitted to have copies of the records; and copies thereof certified by the chairman or secretary shall be presumptive evidence of the facts therein stated.