The Board of Selectmen has approved a special fall Town Meeting next year solely for the purpose of expending Community Preservation Act funds.

The Community Preservation Committee was appointed in 2006 as a group to oversee the efforts of the Conservation Protection Act in Marion. Under the Act, Massachusetts towns can choose to adopt a three percent real estate surcharge in order to fund four areas of community preservation: open space, historic preservation, community housing and recreation.

The Community Preservation Committee is charged with recommending how the town allocate funds for each of these four areas during Town Meeting, which is why Schaefer said Marion needs to commit to having such a meeting.

“The funds have been declining over recent years,” Committee Chair Lori Schaefer said at Tuesday’s meeting. “It’s kind of like throwing a dart at the target and  trying to figure out how much we’re going to get.”

A Town Meeting solely for discussion of this issue, she said, will help sort the distribution of funds. Based on discussions during the proposed Town Meeting, Schaefer said the committee could have a better grasp on how to distribute the funds throughout the community.

The Selectmen supported the recommendation.

“I think fall town meetings are a good opportunity to do some house cleaning and to take up some issues that need to be addressed,” said Selectman Roger Blanchette. “A big portion of what we need to discuss then is the Community Preservation Act, and this will allow us to pay good attention to it without being distracted by budgets.”

“Removing uncertainty would be a good enough reason to have it,” said Selectmen Chair John Henry.

For now, the Selectmen have committed to hold the meeting in the fall but will have to take a vote sometime before then to determine a date and time.