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Memphis City Council members will consider a $2 million transfer Tuesday, March 24, from the city budget to reduce transit fees for citizens in the current state of civil emergency in the city as well as better fund the Mid-South Food Bank during the pandemic.

The budget amendment for the current fiscal year is the first order of business the council will take up during a unique online meeting in which all council members are “calling in” from places outside City Hall because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The funds, which would come from an “intergovernmental transactions” line item, will be discussed at a 1:45 p.m. online executive session that is a truncated version of committee meetings before the full council session at 3:30 p.m.

The money is not considered likely to be used for its intended purpose in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. It includes funding for lobbyists in Nashville as well as Washington. The Tennessee Legislature has recessed for the duration of the pandemic with tentative plans to return before the end of the calendar years.

In addition to the two specific alternative uses for the funding, it could be used for “other such needs as determined by priority by the mayor of the city of Memphis under the emergency,” according to the resolution.

The executive session as well as the full council session will be live-streamed on the council’s website.

The exception to the state’s open meetings law is allowed by an executive order signed by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee last week. Lee acted after the state Senate and the state House passed differing versions of the act and could not reconcile the differences. One version set an expiration or sunset date on the changes while the other did not.

Lee’s order says local elected bodies bound by the law are only to enact vital business that cannot otherwise be delayed. The specific call on how to interpret that rests with the elected legislative body like a city council or a county commission.

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The council agenda for Tuesday includes a second reading vote on an ordinance that would allow speeding enforcement cameras in school zones and a list of four appointees to various city boards.

It also includes approval to issue $150 million in general obligation bonds and another $240 million in refunding bonds.