A public hearing on an ordinance update restricting the presence of dogs on Scarborough beaches was delayed at the last minute Wednesday when it was discovered the town did not advertise the meeting in a local daily newspaper.

Despite the lack of a hearing, comments from a federal official during the meeting may turn the tables on town officials, who admit the perception of federal demands put the new leash law on the fast track.

The public hearing will now be held at the Sept. 18 Town Council meeting. A second reading and vote on the proposed changes, prompted by the July 15 killing on an endangered piping plover chick on Pine Point Beach, will be conducted at the same session.

Members of the advocacy group, Dog Owners of Greater Scarborough, said they learned of the postponement “about an hour” before Wednesday’s meeting. Several members of the group turned out anyway when it was subsequently learned that Mark McCollough, an endangered species biologist with the Maine Field Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, would be on hand to address the council and take questions, as he is unable to return for the Sept. 18 meeting.

“I’ll take the weight on my shoulders,” said Town Clerk Tody Justice, prior to Wednesday’s meeting. “I did the notice up, but I cannot find the paper trail where I sent it out. I did not do it intentionally, believe me. I’ve been sick over it all day log.”

Former Town Councilor Suzanne Foley-Ferguson, a leading voice of the dog owners’ group, called the town office Tuesday afternoon to verify if public notice of the hearing was published seven days before the meeting, as required by state law and local charter. Unable to find evidence the notice was sent, Justice called the newspaper, receiving confirmation Wednesday morning that it was never received.

In his presentation, and under questioning from dog owners and councilors, McCollough said an Aug. 20 letter from his office to the Army Corps of Engineers would not endanger a $3.5 million federally funded dredging project in the Scarborough River, as many local officials had supposed.

“Our concurrence is based on the assumption that the town of Scarborough will revise their animal control ordinance and beach management ordinance to require that dogs be kept on a leash during the piping plover season,” read the third paragraph of the 24-page letter.

Fish and Wildlife was called on to consult on the dredging project because 150,00 cubic yards of sand dug up from the river bottom will be used to rebuild dunes on Western Beach, where they will hopefully become a new habitat for the plovers.

“I thought they were directly tied,” said Town Manager Tom Hall, after Wednesday’s meeting, adding that he was only dissuaded of that notion hours before the Council meeting, in a conversation between himself, McCollough and Council Chairman Ron Ahlquist.

“Our letter in no way says that the Corp. cannot do their harbor dredging and beach nourishment project,” reiterated McCollough during the meeting. “To our knowledge they should be moving forward with their plans for that.”

The real gist of the Aug. 20 letter, said McCollough, was to inform the Army Corps that if Scarborough has not updated its leash law by April 1, 2014, it would automatically trigger the re-opening of a consultation process between the Corps and U.S. Fish and Wildlife.

“That would be an issue between us and them,” said McCollough. “What may occur would be for us to prepare a document called a biological opinion that would give them incidental take [killing] coverage.”

Essentially, that would prevent the Army Corps from being subject to fines should a plover be killed in Scarborough on Western or Ferry beaches after the dredge work is complete, should Scarborough not adopt an ordinance barring dogs from being off leash on the side it controls from April 1 to Aug. 31.

McCollough confirmed that the Fish and Wildlife requirement was issued in guideline form only, and not promulgated by rules that carry the force of law. He also noted that his agency, while it is concerned about all beaches in Scarborough and has been after the town to restrict dog use “for more than a decade,” the Aug. 20 letter only ties the dredge work to rules of use of Ferry and Western beaches.”

The Prouts Neck Association inked an agreement in mid-August to ban dogs completely for Western Beach, which it controls. The town has oversight of Ferry Beach only. However, Hall said he suspects an attempt by the Town Council to limit the proposed ordinance to Ferry Beach only would be met with disfavor by the feds.

“Right or wrong, our animal control ordinance doesn’t differentiate between beaches,” said Hall. “Beaches are beaches. Maybe I’m naive, but I’ll be shocked if they were satisfied if we now said, we’ll do this for Ferry Beach only and not on others. After all, the taking occurred on Pine Point Beach.”

Hall also said that, despite McCollough’s assurances, he still fears repercussions if the Town Council does not put an end to the current practice in town, which allows dogs to run free on municipal beaches from sunrise until 9 a.m. during the summer. Dogs currently are banned from the beaches between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. and can only be present in the evening when on a leash.

“I can tell you the Army Corps is having their legal council review this,” said Hall. “No one has told me for certain, but I suspect that if there is any question in their minds as to dangling issues, or not knowing the consequences of their actions, my sense, and I am speculating here, is the Army Corps’ legal council is likely to say the only way they’ll go forward is if the [Town] Council has taken definitive action that complies with the guidelines.

Although the Army Corps is required by Congress to maintain the shipping channel, where lobster boats reportedly scrape bottom now due to the build-up of sands since the last dredging a decade ago, Hall says he fears the project might not happen if delayed past its scheduled start in November.

“I’ve been around long enough to know it’s hard enough to get the federal dollars,” he said. “If you’ve got them and you turn them back, or you have something like this happen, it’s very difficult to keep them.”

Town officials from Fish and Wildlife’s enforcement division have refused to confirm that the agency is investigating the town for possible violations of the Endangered Species Act, based on the presumption that the July 15 killing happened because local ordinances are not strong enough.

McCollough declined to comment on the investigation, but did confirm one is being conducted.

With just 44 nesting pairs in Maine, the piping plover is listed as an endangered species by the state. On the federal level, it holds the status of a “threatened” species.

A civil violation of the Act can draw fines of up to $25,000. If the town is held criminally negligent, that could mean additional fines of up to $50,000.

During Wednesday’s meeting, McCollough said no piping plover has been observed nesting on Ferry Beach since 1981, and gave bird counts, nesting dates and protected bird types that seemed, to some, in conflict with data given at previous meetings by officials from Maine Audubon.

That drew a stern rebuke from some councilors, including Kate St. Clair, who up until now has been one of the most vocal advocates for adopting more stringent rules for dogs.

“I’m frustrated,” she said. “It seems like every time we turn around we’re, like, including another bird, or we’re extending it to this [date]. I want a straight, direct guideline for exactly what birds we need to be helping.”