Solano County, California IT Infrastructure Manager interview questions

Phone screened by County-mandated hiring agency first; in-person screen with hiring manager that was brief (30 minutes-ish) then your typical public sector in-person panel interview with 6 people that last maybe 1.5-2 hours. Hiring manager did most of the talking during the in-person screen. Described their IT environment, what the position entailed roughly, products and services they used. Didn't actually ask me that many questions. With a slight smirk on his face the hiring manager said they had had "problems" with the phone screened candidates - by then the position had been posted for over 9 months (and as of this writing it still is) - which is why the additional in-person pre-screen was deemed necessary. Not sure I understand why as I was not asked many "tough" questions in-person. Maybe the bar is low - i.e., to make sure you are breathing, don't present like a homeless person off the street, and can conjugate a verb in person - but that's about it. In any case he was certainly nice and personable during the in-person screen. In-person interview was, as expected, much tougher and, also as expected, was your typical big panel interview that virtually every public sector position I've interviewed for has done. I have told myself now three times I would "never" apply for a public sector position again, mainly because the pay is never even remotely up to what I was making, but also because the panel interview is the least desirable and engaging interview process. It's also unnecessarily intimidating. This position happened to be in the salary range of what I would be reasonably looking for and also happened to be in the same town I was living in so I again denied my best instincts and applied - now, really, truly for the last time (I swear!). Questions during the in-person panel interview were pretty diverse ranging from how would you make tough budget decisions, how you would handle managing so many people (30 reports for this position!), how would you build an architecture for such and such (didn't matter what just trying to gauge how you would handle a particular scenario like this). Lots of scenario-based questions just generally. I'd say there were roughly 20-25 questions total that were asked round-robin by 6 people. In general I was poorly prepared for the panel interview and don't think I really had enough experience as a manager to answer many of the questions effectively. I had managed a small team very loosely for almost 3 years but I think someone with a much deeper hands-on skill set as a manager over 5-10 years would be able to answer the questions much more readily and easily. I felt myself grasping for answers a lot more than a good, experienced manager would have. They also (justifiably, I suppose) seem to strongly prefer those who already have public sector experience. I have zero experience in public entities. Basically everyone in the room has spent their entire IT career in public sector. Note that the County appears to be a suit-and-tie operation, at least for managers. Dress accordingly. I was in shirtsleeves and a tie and slacks and dress shoes so felt somewhat under-dressed for the interview. Also note the County is almost entirely union, INCLUDING IT. I was afraid it would be. I personally have a big problem with unions and can't stand the idea of paying dues. Take that into account if you plan on working for the county - and indeed most public sector jobs. Dealing with union employees requires an extra level of kid glove treatment you will not be accustomed to in the private sector. As an ancillary note the County does appear to be quite "progressive" for public sector IT.