From Rock Chalk Park to too many anecdotal stories about leaking roofs, Lawrence voters had a lot of reasons for voting against a $28 million police headquarters plan in November.

At the first of two scheduled “listening sessions,” Lawrence city commissioners on Wednesday evening heard nearly 90 minutes’ worth of reasons why people rejected the proposed sales tax that would have paid for the headquarters.

Early on, displeasure with how commissioners have processed the controversial Rock Chalk Park sports complex was a frequent theme.

“I voted ‘no,’ and it was a protest vote,” said Vince Vannicola, who apologized to police officers because he does think their facilities are inadequate. “I didn’t know how else to get your attention. I was so upset with how Rock Chalk Park was done.”

Several other speakers — there were about 40 people who attended the session at City Hall — also mentioned displeasure with the Rock Chalk Park process and were miffed at how the recreation project got placed ahead of the police project.

But that wasn’t the only thing driving opposition to the proposal, which was defeated by a vote of 52 percent to 48 percent. Several speakers said they were frustrated about hearing stories such as the leaking roofs at existing police facilities. That’s a problem, but it is not a reason to build a $28 million facility, several speakers said.

“So many of the things presented by the police department were anecdotes, and the anecdotes don’t go to the fundamental solution,” one speaker, Paul Carttar, said.

Other speakers said that when data-based information was presented — such as a national study that showed Lawrence’s crime clearance rates were below average — city commissioners largely downplayed such information because they were “in the middle of a sales campaign.”

Several other reasons for opposition were given by multiple members of the public. They included:

• Concern about the proposed site near McDonald Drive and the Kansas Turnpike.

• The need for more long-range planning and cooperation among the city, the county and the school district so that voters have a better idea of large-dollar projects that are on the horizon.

• Concern about the proposed 0.2 percent sales tax increase and the impact it would have on the poor.

• A desire to fund more social service agencies and other such programs that could help prevent crime, and thus reduce the strains on the police department.

Mayor Mike Amyx thanked the crowd and said the comments will be helpful to commissioners as they decide how to proceed on the police facilities question in the future. But it is unclear whether this current City Commission will make many decisions on the project. Three of the five commissioners — Mike Dever, Terry Riordan and Bob Schumm — have terms that expire in April. That leaves little time for decisions about funding, possible sales tax proposals or other such items to be made prior to the April election.

“It is going to take a little bit of time,” said Amyx, who said he still clearly sees a need for a new police facility. “And obviously there were comments I heard tonight that concerned me, but I think we can overcome them.”

Not everyone in the crowd was so sure.

“With the continuing debacle of Rock Chalk Park, I would bet that the vote is moving further away from you,” Austin Turney, the son of the former school board member of the same name, told commissioners. “Don’t think you will be able to do a little massaging and it will pass.”

Commissioners will host a second listening session on the police headquarters topic at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 29 at the Lawrence Arts Center.