A Notice of Resignation!? Is 'Email' a Requirement for Board Members? | Management Association Diary #4

This is a story from when I first became a board member.
In our condominium, board members communicate via email and a LINE group, which is a common method, so I joined without giving it much thought.

A while later, one of the older board members (probably around 80) sent a voice message to the LINE group. I thought, 'Oh, LINE has a voice feature?' (laughs).
The message was voice. Their actual voice. To be honest... it was quite inconvenient. I couldn't listen to it at work, and it was awkward during my commute. Even at home, I had to pick the right time. By the time I finally listened to it, the discussion was already over, and I was like, 'Ah, they've already reached a conclusion on this.'

It seems other board members felt the same way, and one day, someone said, 'Since there are limited places where we can listen to voice messages, could you please send them in text if possible?' It was a very normal way to put it, but the response was quite heavy: 'It's hard for me to type because of my age, so I use voice,' and 'I'm shocked to be told that, as I can't send them any other way.'

Then, the next day, a document arrived stating they were resigning from the board. It said things like, 'It's difficult for me to master smartphones and email,' 'I don't have the confidence to keep up if we continue using email,' and 'I was shocked that everyone felt that way about me.' I can understand this to an extent. My own mother is in a similar situation.

Some other board members said, 'Why don't we just let them quit?' We have to keep the operations running, so there is some truth to that. But I felt uneasy about just leaving it at that, and it bothered me to leave things as they were, so I suggested that the board send a letter and I drafted the text.

We apologized for making them feel uncomfortable, explained that email would become the main method of communication as we would be dealing more with companies for large-scale repairs, mentioned that we would try to use paper as much as possible but there would be a time lag, and suggested that getting help from their family to send and receive emails could be one way to manage. We sent the letter asking if they would be willing to work with us under those conditions.

They replied, 'Thank you for explaining so carefully. But I don't want to hold everyone back, so I will resign this time and cooperate as a member of the association in the future.' In the end, while it resulted in a resignation, we were able to communicate properly and it ended without any conflict.

However, this matter has been weighing on me.
When recruiting board members in the future, it would be realistic to make 'being able to use email' a requirement, but that would mean people who can't use email can't be board members.

Since it is basically a volunteer position, I think it is generally acceptable to set certain conditions, but I feel it is a bit wrong to set a condition that effectively strips away the rights of people to manage their own property from the start.
Honestly, I haven't found the answer yet, but I wonder how other management associations handle this.