Yes and what's going on there is that the official is uncomfortable because the failure of government is being exposed by guys like Magnet Man. They're so petty and feckless that they can't cooperate with him, or deputize him in some way.
The problem is, not all bureaucrats are evil, but all bureaucracy begins at neutral and tends towards evil, so there's a sad inevitability involved. And my hackles went up because even I, who consider myself pretty self-aware, ended up in some horrible conversations where I know I preferred the town having authority over something volunteers had historically done. We are all part-nazi, some of us just have more authority.