COBB COUNTY, Ga. — The move to keep a controversial medical sterilization closed until it can meet higher safety standards is on hold, as legal teams prepare to further discuss the request Monday.
Channel 2 investigative reporter Nicole Carr learned that the Sterigenics medical sterilization plant has been on the record as a storage facility for decades when it's really a high-risk chemical facility.
[READ: Local sterilization plants released dangerous, cancer-causing toxins, report shows]
The plant has been shut down since around Labor Day weekend to install emissions reduction equipment. But a request for construction permitting revealed the occupancy permitting status was outdated. The Cobb fire marshal stepped in, as county leaders moved to keep the facility shut down until it can meet higher safety and fire code standards.
They want to use a third party to determine what those standards consist of moving forward.
[READ: Sterilization plant meets with Smyrna residents over toxin release]
In a statement regarding the request Friday afternoon, Cobb County Spokesman Ross Cavitt said:
"I have confirmed Cobb officials have not yet sent any correspondence to the company. There were multiple telephone conversations today that prompted our legal team to reach out to the Fire Marshal and Inspections officials. Since the two principals were not in the office today, they plan on meeting with them on Monday before taking any further action."
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Sterigenics only recently updated its status amid the construction projects but the county doesn't say its operation was illegal.
Cobb County Commissioner Bob Ott talked about the revelations in video provided by the county on Friday.
[READ: Governor steps into plant toxins controversy; EPA requested in Covington]
"Back in 1982 when they got their occupancy, pretty much their certificate of occupancy, they were listed as storage and rules have changed over the years, and they haven't really made any renovations that required them to go in front of the county," Ott said. "So when they came in front of the county it was kind of noticed that it said storage and they're not, they're industrial use.
For those living and working around the Sterigenics medical sterilization plant the latest revelation is upsetting.
"The county obviously didn't know. So here we are being subjected to this and just now finding out after all these years," said Lugene Shownyo, who works near the plant.
[READ: Law firm preparing toxic air cases, including property value claims]
"They need to be shut down completely because if they've been going on that basis for all these years, what are they going to be going on in the future? Are they going to lie to us again?" Shownyo asked.
The plant is installing emissions reduction equipment for the gas ethylene oxide -- a cancer-causing chemical used to clean medical supplies.
No one in the community knew about the operation or its potential danger until a WebMD investigation earlier this summer.
[READ: City of Atlanta to join air testing over concerns of toxic fumes from Cobb plant]
Since then the plant has been under scrutiny for an unreported leak and employee accident, litigation led by a state lawmaker and threats to sue over property values and health risks.
"It will be going back and forth I'm sure for a long time, but no, we'll never be able to trust them again," Shownyo told Carr.
Sterigenics offered no comment Friday regarding the demand by county leaders to remain closed.