Lawrence city commissioners want to hear what went wrong with their proposal to build a $28 million police headquarters, which was defeated by voters in November.

Commissioners have scheduled two listening sessions this month to hear from residents about why voters rejected a proposed 0.2 percent sales tax that would have funded a police headquarters on a site near the Kansas Turnpike.

“I just want to find out how we can do this project in a way that will make people feel comfortable,” Mayor Mike Amyx said. “Obviously, the things we proposed, at least for the majority of the voters, weren’t quite right.”

The city has set two dates for the listening sessions:

• 6:30 p.m. Jan. 14 at Lawrence City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.

• 6:30 p.m. Jan. 29 at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 New Hampshire St.

Voters in November rejected the sales tax proposal by a 52 percent to 48 percent margin. Amyx said a clear theme hasn’t emerged as to why voters rejected the sales tax. Several concerns were raised during the campaign, including: Some voters preferred a property tax increase over a new sales tax; some voters objected to the proposed location near McDonald Drive and the Kansas Turnpike; some voters were concerned about the cost and timing of the project; and some voters said they weren’t yet convinced that the police department was in need of a new headquarters facility.

Amyx said he remains convinced that police need a new headquarters.

“The need for the facility hasn’t gone away,” Amyx said. “My job now is to find out people’s thoughts.”

The police department is seeking a new facility to consolidate staff into a single location from the multiple facilities that are spread throughout town. The department’s two largest facilities — the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center downtown and the Investigations and Training Center in West Lawrence — have space issues that make it difficult for the department to add more officers and detectives, department leaders said during the campaign.

Several of the facilities also need significant repairs, and having personnel and equipment located in multiple facilities creates inefficiencies, Police Chief Tarik Khatib has said.

If a new campaign for a police headquarters project does ultimately emerge, voters likely will have more information about another major law enforcement project under consideration. During the police headquarters campaign, Douglas County officials announced they were considering options for expanding the Douglas County Jail.

Since November, more information has emerged about that project. The county estimates the jail expansion might cost $20 million to $30 million, and has said it is likely that at least part of the project would be funded through increased property tax rates.

During the last campaign, some voters questioned whether the city and county could work together on a coordinated jail expansion/police headquarters project that would save money by taking advantage of economies of scale.

“I won’t say never,” Amyx said, but he said he did have questions about whether such a project would work for the city’s purposes.

Particularly, he said he was unsure that the location would work for the city. The Douglas County Jail is on the southeastern edge of Lawrence, a bit west of where the new interchange for the South Lawrence Trafficway will tie into Kansas Highway 10.

“Making sure the location meets the needs of the facility is very important,” Amyx said. “That’s not to say a southeast location couldn’t do that, but we absolutely have to make sure we have a location that allows us to operate and get everywhere we need to be.”

This month’s listening sessions are likely just the beginning of a process to determine how to proceed on the police headquarters issue. Amyx said it is likely that several major decisions about the police issue will be put before the next City Commission, which will take office after the April elections. Terms for three of the five commissioners — Mike Dever, Terry Riordan and Bob Schumm — are expiring.

Amyx said he did not want to wait to have conversations about the project until the next commission takes office.

“I think it is important to try to learn from the election we just had,” Amyx said.