SAN DIEGO -- Jerry Sanders' first official act after being sworn in Monday as mayor of California's second-biggest city was to restore the title of "America's Finest City" to San Diego's Web site.

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VIDEO: New Mayor Faces Challenges
DISCUSS: San Diego Mayor's Office

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Sanders, who won a runoff election against Councilwoman Donna Frye on Nov. 8, replaces Dick Murphy, who resigned six months into his second term because of the city's worsening financial crisis.

After taking the oath of office at a 2 p.m. City Council meeting, Sanders told the assembled spectators that his would immediately direct the city staff to put the motto "America's Finest City" back on the municipal Web site. Officials quietly dropped the self-proclaimed title in August following a series of scandals involving San Diego's elected officials. Sanders said it is not the residents' fault that San Diego has the problems it does right now.

"I love this city and have no doubt that its citizens make it America's finest," said the new mayor.

San Diego dubbed itself "America's Finest City" in 1972 -- ironically, to get through another rough patch. The Republican Party had moved its national convention from San Diego to Miami Beach with less than three months' notice. There were allegations that the Justice Department dropped an antitrust suit against International Telephone & Telegraph Co. after it pledged $400,000 to the convention.

Then-Mayor Pete Wilson ordered an "America's Finest City" week of festivals during the Miami convention, complete with boat races and concerts.

The slogan was back on the Web site by 4 p.m.

Also on Monday, Sanders said there was no fast way to erase the city's fiscal woes.

"Our problems are extensive, and I can't promise you quick or easy solutions," said Sanders. "They were years in the making and they will take time and sacrifice to solve, but I can promise you the following: As quick as I am able to assess the dimensions of our problems, I will report them to you truthfully."

Sanders discussed his 90-day plan of action, which he dubbed Our Timeline for Change. The idea behind the plan, said Sanders, was to "stabilize our city's finances and restructure city government to insure sure we don't repeat previous mistakes." While Sanders said he was committed to launching all the elements of the plan within his first 90 days in office, he did concede that "most, if not all, would take more than 90 days to complete."

After delivering his speech, Sanders thanked Deputy Mayor Toni Atkins for her service to the community in the wake of Murphy's resignation. He also invited comment from the six seated members of the City Council (two Council seats are empty pending January's runoff elections to replace Michael Zucchet and Ralph Inzunza), who unanimously welcomed him and wished him well in his new post.

The former San Diego police chief inherits a deficit of at least $1.4 billion in the municipal pension system and several probes into how the city presented its finances to institutional investors. The city's fiscal woes include dealing with a long-delayed audit of its 2003 finances, a severely diminished credit rating that has made it difficult to borrow money and ongoing budget struggles that have led to job and service cuts.

Sanders began his tenure as the presiding member of the City Council, running the meeting and voting on issues with the other council members. But his role changes radically in January, when the city changes to a strong-mayor form of government. At that point, he will take over many of the executive duties formerly held by the city manager, including the hiring and firing of department heads and preparing the budget. Sanders will no longer vote with the council, and he probably won't attend most of the council meetings.

Local political observers say Sanders' leadership style will become apparent in these first few months.

"When Dick Murphy ran for his second term, everybody was saying things such as, 'We'll see what happens a year from now or four years from now.' And we saw what happened in a very short six months: We had a resignation," political analyst John Dadian told NBC 7/39. "So I see a lot of people are going to be looking at benchmarks. You're going to be looking at 100 day, six months, a year from now. And, hopefully, this mayor will turn things around."

Sanders has said his plan for solving the financial crisis includes cutting the city payroll by 10 percent unless the city's labor unions agree to renegotiate pension benefits. He has also told city employees to prepare for a four-year salary freeze.