County job postings worth checking - any advice?

The city and county near Dallas both posted administrative and maintenance openings this week. I have read a lot of threads here and could not find my exact situation. Some need a short exam. Do they prefer local residents?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it last year, and it got easier once I kept a simple log of every call and form.

Follow the instructions exactly. They screen out applications with missing sections.