than a county responsibility. Marietta's Clarke Library dated back to 1893. In addition, Acworth, Smyrna and Austell supported small city libraries. As late as the 1950s, the county system consisted of little more than a couple of bookmobiles that traveled around to various sites. Gradually the county system expanded. The bond referendum provided almost $1 million of additional revenues to build new library buildings in Powder Springs, Acworth, Kennesaw, Fair Oaks, Mableton, Oakdale and Marietta. When Barrett took office, one of Cobb's greatest deficiencies was a lack of adequate sewerage in unincorporated areas. In a dozen or more subdivisions, developers had built their own package treatment plants and turned them over to the county to maintain. But much of the county existed on septic tanks, and Sweetwater, Nickajack, Sope and Rottenwood Creeks all were terribly polluted. When Tom Cousins sold his first homes in Indian Hills in 1970, east Cobb was so rural the only business within miles was a country grocery store and gas pump at the corner of Lower Roswell and Johnson's Ferry. Indian Hills had its own sewage plant in hope a county line would eventually reach there. Barrett worried the lack of adequate sewerage would stifle Cobb's development. In 1966, the county commission contracted with the Hensley-Schmidt engineering firm to develop a master sewer plan. Hensley-Schmidt recommended revenue bonds backed by user fees from water customers rather than tax revenues. In 1969, Barrett announced the sale of $35 million of water and sewer revenue bonds. The sewer revenues were spent in part to build the Chattahoochee River Wastewater Treatment plant (later renamed for county engineer Bob Sutton) and sewage lines along Sope Creek and the Chattahoochee River to the treatment plant near Atlanta Road. The treatment plant opened in 1973 and the Sope Creek line was completed two years later. Nothing the Barrett administration did was more important in the development of east Cobb than these sewage projects. For the rest of the Barrett era, the commission continued to improve the county's infrastructure. Its willingness to work with developers was crucial in attracting such projects as Six Flags and Cumberland Mall. Regrettably, in April 1978, Barrett was operated on for a cancerous growth in his right lung. While he continued to be the unquestioned leader of county government, he no longer could handle every administrative detail. He promoted Cobb's water manager Harry Ingram to serve as