ROCKLAND — Mayor Robert Peabody will hold a series of meetings next month to deal with some of the city’s more pressing problems.

Since his election as mayor last month, Peabody has made it clear that he wanted to tackle the complex issues quickly. The January meetings will focus on the future of the Rockland-Thomaston Chamber of Commerce building on the public landing, land use and zoning on Camden Street, and the controversy surrounding last month’s election.

“I feel that all these issues are very important to the city and they have to be dealt with quickly,” Peabody said Wednesday.

The first meeting, which will take place at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 4, at City Hall, will deal with the chamber building. Peabody has invited members of the chamber, Parks and Harbor committees in an attempt to reach a common ground on the controversial issue.

Although the chamber has used the city-owned building at the landing for decades, a proposal advanced by the Harbor Committee and former Mayor Thomas Molloy last summer recommended they be evicted from their traditional quarters. The plan’s supporters contended that it made more sense to use the building as headquarters for the harbor master than the chamber.

Chamber Director Clayton Fowlie and many of his members were aghast that the council would consider removing the chamber from the building. The public landing location provided high visibility. They credited the chamber’s years of promotional activity on behalf of the city for many of the improvements along the waterfront.

At 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20, Peabody will convene a meeting with the council, City Clerk Stuart Sylvester, Election Warden Cynthia Watts and a representative of the Secretary of State’s Office to discuss last month’s election.

There was a lot of confusion at the polls that Tuesday, and Peabody said it was imperative that the council “find out what happened Election Day.” On Wednesday, Gov. John R. McKernan announced that one city race, between incumbent Rita Melendy, D-Rockland, and her challenger, Fowlie, was a target of a federal investigation.

The Melendy-Fowlie race is one of nine contests undergoing a ballot recount. McKernan and Attorney General Michael Carpenter have alleged that ballots in some of those races may have been tampered with by a member of House Speaker John Martin’s staff.

“We need to get an overview of what happened that day, what should happen, and what laws can be better enforced,” Peabody said. “We want to know what changes can be instituted to ensure the public they can vote in a timely manner and be assured that their vote counts. … We want to encourage people to vote, and stuff like this doesn’t help much.”

The final session will focus on Camden Street land-use issues and is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 25. Attending will be the council, Planning Commission and Comprehensive Planning Committee. Peabody said that although land-use practices along Camden Street have always been haphazard, the recent arrival of Wal-Mart has brought increased pressure to the area.

“The discussion will center on what issues we feel are the most important and need to be addressed immediately,” Peabody said. “Land use, design specifications, lighting, all the issues that are troubling people will be addressed.”

Peabody said that while the area provides a mix of residential and commercial development, pressure is mounting to ignore the neighborhoods in favor of growth. Those calling for restraint have been branded anti-business, a description Peabody denied emphatically.

“I think the Planning Commission has done a good job on squeezing what they can out of the developers. They may have thought they pushed our current ordinances but that is not anti-business,” Peabody said. “I do not want Camden Street to look like Pleasant Street in Brunswick or Western Avenue in Augusta. We want Rockland’s uniqueness to show. I think we are in real danger of losing that uniqueness.”

When asked what methods were available to give equal protection to commercial and residential interests, Peabody said finding that answer was the purpose of the meeting.

“People in Pen Bay Acres and Juniper Hill are very concerned about their neighborhood,” he said, “as they should be. Because how Camden Street is developed will affect their property. They have just as much right to enjoy their property as commercial interests do to develop theirs.”