The Clay County Commission passed the Senior Real Estate Property Tax Relief November 30, 2023. Provisions of the ordinance take effect January 1, 2025. The passage comes after months of work by the Commission and Clay County staff to craft a plan that applies to all eligible Clay County residents who are 62 years old or older. 

Under Clay County 2023-ORD-42, eligible Clay County residents will be able to apply to participate in the Senior Real Estate Property Tax Relief Program beginning in 2025. To be eligible, the Clay County resident must own, or have a legal interest in, a home within the county, claim that property as their primary residence and be responsible for paying real estate taxes on that property. The resident may only claim one home as a primary residence. 

The tax relief is not retroactive and all Clay County residents eligible for the tax relief in 2025, and who apply in 2025, will have a base tax year of 2024. The tax relief is calculated by subtracting the real estate property tax of the base year from the current year’s real estate property tax. 

Participants are required to submit an affidavit every year after the initial application to ensure eligibility is still being met.

For the details and forms to be submitted, go to the Clay County website - https://www.claycountymo.gov/523/Senior-Real-Estate-Property-Tax-Relief

The residents at 841 NE Barnes are experimenting with ongoing land conservation efforts - such as No Mow May.

They have offered to share information on what they are doing and why.

"We’ve been diving into the idea of making our yard more nature-friendly for a while. If you’ve driven through the Village of Oaks along Poplar, you’ve probably seen the tall grass and wild plants in our yard and wondered if we just forgot to mow. We get it—everyone’s used to seeing perfectly mowed lawns. But this year, we tried something new called “No Mow May” as part of our ongoing efforts to grow native plants and support nature conservation at home."

No Mow May is a movement that asks homeowners and cities to skip mowing their lawns during May. The idea is to help out pollinators like bees and butterflies by letting the flowers in our lawns bloom. This movement started in the UK by a conservation group called Plantlife and has spread to other countries, including the US. Local groups and communities have picked it up to promote biodiversity and support struggling pollinators.

The main goal of No Mow May is to improve pollinator health by letting flowers like dandelions and clover grow. These flowers provide essential nectar and pollen early in the season, helping out pollinators and promoting biodiversity. While we haven’t turned our experiment into a formal study, we’ve noticed more fireflies this year. We’re also curious to see if we’ll get more butterflies this summer, building on our previous efforts to create a butterfly-friendly yard.

Researchers in the US and UK have found that mowing less often leads to more flowers, which directly supports pollinators and improves habitat quality for insects and wildlife, including birds. Less frequent mowing also saves money and reduces pests. Here’s a link to a research study which explored these issues: 

https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/mowing-urban-lawns-less-intensely-increases-biodiversity-saves-money-reduces-pests/

Each property in the Village is assessed a special assessment to pay for solid waste services that include trash, recycling, limited bulky item pickup and yard waste.

The current contract with the details of the solid waste contract with GFL Environmental.  They acquired Waste Corporation of Missouri, LLC (WCA). The contract details are located in the  Ordinances section. 

The contact number for GFL is 816-380-5595. For weather-related service disruptions, updates can be obtained by following them on Facebook @GFLenvKC. 

Pickup Day is Thursday morning starting at 7:00 AM. Trash and recycle bins along with lawn/leaf bags are all picked up on the same day.

Service that falls on a holidays will be completed the following day, and service for subsequent days in the same week will also be completed one day later.  For example, there will be no pickup on Thanksgiving Day.  It will be picked up on Friday.

The link for GFL's Holiday Pickup Schedule is https://gflenv.com/kansas-city/.

Bag Tags

Each residence in the Village has two roll-away bins – one for normal trash and one for recyclables. If additional trash bags are needed, the resident can purchase “bag tags” from the Village Clerk.  They cost $2 each and are sold in a sheet of five – total of $10.

Disability/Handicap Roll Out Service

Eligible dwellings can be deemed as a disability stop.  The driver shall roll the cart from the front of home to curb for service and return the bins following service, at no additional charge. Verification of disability is initially required.  Resident must call GFL to get this setup at 816-380-5595

Yard Waste – Lawn and Leaf

Each property is permitted to put out up to 10 lawn/ leaf bags or stick bundles per week March through December.  Yard waste must be placed is biodegradable paper bags and/or placed in bundles that are no larger than four feet long by two feet wide and less than 50 pounds.

Bulk Item Pick-up

WCA/GFL will collect two large items per quarter for free, each additional item will be $50.00. Residents will be responsible to call 816-380-5595 to be placed on the pickup schedule. On the scheduled day, all items must be placed at the curb. Bulk items include residentially generated household items as that can be readily moved by two people, including mattresses, couches, box springs, chairs, dressers, desks, doors, windows, and other household furniture. Bulk items DO NOT INCLUDE appliances, computers, monitors and other electronics waste, hazardous waste (paint, solvents, lawn chemicals, etc.), tires, automotive parts, and construction materials. Excluded items will not be collected.

Roll-Off Rates

Rental of 20 yd. box - $275.00 per fill

Rental of 30 yd. box- $290.00 per fill

Rental of 40 yd. box - $310.00 per fill

All Roll Off’s have a $75 Delivery Fee

The Village has a Nuisance Ordinance that regulates excessive vegetation growth and other situations deemed a nuisance. The details are found in the Ordinance section under ORDINANCE 2020-1 - NUISANCES AFFECTING HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELFARE, AND LAND USE.

Items Considered Nuisance:

• Noxious weeds, rank vegetation or grasses over twelve (12) inches in height.
• Junked, abandoned or inoperable motor vehicles
• Accumulation of rubbish, trash, refuse, junk and other abandoned materials, metals, lumber or other things.
• Any condition which provides harborage for rats, mice, snakes and other vermin.
• Any building or other structure which is in such a dilapidated condition that it is unfit for human habitation, or kept in such an unsanitary condition that it is a menace to the health of people in the vicinity or presents a more than ordinarily dangerous fire hazard.
• All unnecessary or unauthorized noises and annoying vibrations, including animal noises.
• All disagreeable or obnoxious odors and stenches.
• Any accumulation of stagnant water. 
• Dense smoke, noxious fumes, gas, soot, dust or cinders, in unreasonable quantities.
• Dead trees and dead limbs of trees so located that falling would endanger the safety of persons using any public roads or sidewalks in the Village.
• Tree limbs and branches which overhang any public sidewalk or public street that impede and interfere with the use of the sidewalk or street.
• Trucks larger than three-quarter ton, recreational vehicles, or motor homes (both commonly referred to as RVs), trailers, and boats regularly parked on any premises that are not parked within an approved enclosure or shielded from public view. Regularly parked is defined as more than seven consecutive days.
• Parking of over five (5) motor vehicles on any one residence lot for a period of more than forty-eight (48) consecutive hours.

Property Owners are responsible for vegetation growth all the way to the road edge on all sides of their property boarded by a Village road or North Oak.  

It is preferred that there are no non-ornamental or scrub bushes at the property edges. This option provides an open view not blocked by bushes or other growth.  An advantage is that neighbors can look out for one another and can view for activity that is not normal in a neighbor’s yard.  It also provides a clean and open look that is preferred by those interested in living in the Village.  

Since there is not a storm water system in the village, rain water needs a path where it can run or be absorbed.  Having well maintained swales, culverts and ditches are key to rainwater management and road stability.  A swale-like design that absorbs and slows down rain water flow is preferred.  Ditches with no low vegitation are effected by erosion and get deeper and wider over time. 

The Village of Oaks Board of Trustees is not a Homeowner’s Association (HOA).  It is the governing body for the Village of Oaks which is a municipality - like Kansas City or Gladstone. 

Municipalities are categorized by size but are all governed by ordinances and laws created by the Village, County, State and Federal government.

See the GARAGE SALE ordinanance for all the details.  Some main points of the ordinance:

Free Permit is required - No sale shall be conducted unless and until the person desiring to conduct such sale shall obtain a permit from the Clerk of the Village of Oaks.

No person shall advertise, conduct, carry on or permit more than three (3) sales upon the grounds of or within any dwelling within the village within any calendar year. 

No person shall conduct, carry on or permit a sale to last more than three (3) days. 

No person shall conduct, permit or carry on a sale between 8:00 pm and 6:00 am.