The council president rapped sharply with her gavel, bringing the chatter in the audience to a halt.

Then Tybee Island Youth Council President Jessica Turberville, a fifth grader at Tybee Island Maritime Academy, asked for the crowd to silence their cell phones before she introduced Youth Council member Mikaree Stafford to present his report on the group’s recent trip to Atlanta for Savannah-Chatham Day.

The meeting had all the makings of a typical city council meeting — from the invocation to the posting of the colors and the pledge to the flag — but with smaller elected officials who were slightly more prone to fits of giggles.

Tybee Island City Clerk Jan LeViner, who serves as director of the Youth Council, said Tybee’s group — made up of fourth, fifth and sixth graders from the Maritime Academy, is one of the youngest youth commissions in the state.

The Tybee Youth Council is the third such student government in Chatham County. The Chatham County Youth Commission, formed in 1992, is made up of local high school sophomores, juniors and seniors. The Savannah Youth Council, which is comprised of local eighth graders, began in 2004.

During their meeting before their families and city officials Thursday, part of the city’s recognition of Georgia Cities Week, the Tybee Youth Council introduced the project they’ve been developing throughout the year — their own municipalities, complete with plans, ordinances, elected officials and business people.

LeViner said the towns were drafted entirely by the kids. With the help of Robert Bazemore, a professor at the Savannah College of Art and Design, they created official maps that showed each town’s layout.

“We gave them magic markers and a blank sheet of paper,” LeViner said. “We did not help them.”

For “Sycamore Island,” Mayor Stafford and the rest of the city’s officials and residents created a community complete with hospitals, police departments and post offices.

Chief Engineer of Sycamore Island, Joey Webster, said they have laws in place to prevent drugs in school.

In another town, Hunter Island, Bazemore said the planners on the Youth Council included a port to enhance commerce and grouped the houses together in their own district. Each group member had their own job to do, he said.

In the third town, Whitfield Island, the jobs ranged from farmers to librarians to doctors. The town had its share of sensible ordinances — no loud music at night and no smoking in public places.

After about 30 minutes of presentations, President Turberville adjourned the meeting. She said afterward that conducting meetings like the one Thursday is her favorite part of being a member of the Youth Council.

She said her experience with the group has sparked in her a desire to run for public office one day.

LeViner said Friday she had no idea the Youth Council would prove so popular with the students at the Maritime Academy. When she began the Tybee Island Youth Council last year, it had 10 founding members.

“I was excited to have 10,” LeViner said. “When I took the applications back in September, I prayed I would have three more.”

She had a bit more than three new participants. This year, LeViner reported, the group has grown to 42 members, and LeViner has help from an assistant director, Haley Hill, the director of the Tybee Island YMCA.

Hill said the Youth Council has been willing to get involved in its community. Since the program began, members have planted trees and marched in parades on Tybee.

They’ve visited their representatives at the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta, Hill said, and now they’re raising funds to visit their elected representatives in Washington, D.C., in the next year.