Christmas came a couple of days early this year in Simi Valley.

The city and its police officers have reached a deal on a new contract.

After months of heated closed-door negotiations and relentless public relations posturing, the city’s negotiating team and representatives from the Simi Valley Police Officers Association made a deal Wednesday that will keep all sworn officers below the rank of lieutenant under contract through Dec. 31, 2010.

While we’re all interested to know which side eventually blinked, the most important thing is that a deal’s done. Now the city can begin trying to move on from what can only be described as an ugly situation. But it won’t be easy. Bitter feelings can die hard.

Aside from the impact they’ve had on working relationships, the events of the last few months are sure to have a lasting effect on local politics: Let’s not forget this is an election year.

Depending on what concessions were made by the police union in reaching a compromise, it’s very likely the bad blood between some of the union membership and those at city hall will spill over into the campaign season.

With two City Council seats and the mayor’s chair up for grabs, there’s no question that future challengers have been licking their lips over some of the political fodder created by the battle between the city and the cops. Like it or not, Simi could be in for an interesting race.

Politics aside, it’s critical that those involved in this dispute show enough character to forgive and forget, to understand that the enemy in all of this has been the failing economy— not each other.

If Simi Valley is going to carry on as one of the country’s safest cities, our elected officials, city staff and police officers must work together, if not in perfect harmony, than at least with mutual respect. And let’s hope that when contract negotiations come up again a year from now, things will be very different.