MINOT (AP) - Minot officials say they learned about coping with energy development during a trip to Texas and Louisiana this week.

"It really confirmed that we are probably on the right track, but we need to maybe find some other and some unique ways to get folks to build," Mayor Curt Zimbleman said.

Zimbelman led a delegation to Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas, and Lafayette, La., to meet with city leaders about the impact of oil development on their communities. The group left Saturday and returned early Wednesday morning.

Joining Zimbelman were Jerry Chavez, president of the Minot Area Development Corp.; Darwin Langseth, MADC chairman; Chuck Barney, a city alderman; Frank Moseley, a Minot State University professor; and Alan Walter, the city public works director.

Zimbelman said although the three cities have dealt with oil impact for a long time, they still struggle with issues of work force and housing.

"What it confirms is when they say they are coming, they are going to be here," he said of the oil industry.

"So we need to gear up. Some of our planning has been good, but we need to gear up for some of the folks that will be living here."

Barney said he learned about the need for cooperation among cities and counties affected by oil development.

"Even communities that you might think would compete with each other would find ways to work together to support the oil industries that were down there. I didn't expect that, and I think we need to find a way of translating that," he said.