In 2012, Schuylkill County learned it had missed out on $52,000 owed to its retirement fund because a $15,000 initial check had been forgotten in a small drawer in the safe in the controller's office until long after it had expired.

Last week, commissioners took steps to make sure that doesn't happen again by signing a contract with a Delaware law firm that will keep an eye out for class action lawsuits against any of the companies the county's retirement fund invests with, free of charge.The contract, which commissioners approved at a public meeting Wednesday, is with Chimicles & Tikellis of Wilmington."What this firm will do, at no cost to the county, is go through all of our history, look to see what investments we have, see if there's something out there. They'll sign us up, tell us what's going on and make sure if there is anything, we're involved," said county controller Christy Joy."If there's a lawsuit, they'll make sure we participate. If there is an award, they'll make sure we get a check," he said.If a major case arises, Chimicles & Tikellis asks, but does not require, the county to hire the firm to represent it, he said.The case of the uncashed check surfaced in February 2012, when the newly elected Joy was cleaning out the safe.He saw a small drawer on the right-hand side and opened it. Among the papers was an opened envelope, with the contents turned around so that no address was showing. He reached into the envelope and pulled out a check, dated March 4, 2009, for $15,027.57 to the county retirement fund from a settlement from a class-action lawsuit against Tyco International, in which the retirement fund had invested.The letter accompanying the check warned that it must be cashed within 180 days. If it went unclaimed, the money would be given to charity.The check, if cashed, was to be followed by the remainder of the distribution."If we had cashed that check, we would have had a bite of the apple to the tune of $50,000," Joy said.Former controller Melinda Kantner, who lost her bid for election to a second term to Joy in the 2011 general election, told the TIMES NEWS at the time that she knew nothing of the check, and relied on her staff to keep track of such things. Her staff member then said he had not seen the check.The county was later able to recover $10,037.57 through its insurance carrier for the lost money.